Sin of Remembrance
by Doomboy2000
Summary: Welcome to the Dark Realm. In the third epoch of No Heart, everything finally comes to a head as the Final Keyblade Master takes up the fabled weapon to defend Kingdom Hearts. Against the Master and his servants, can the chosen of the keyblade prevail?
1. Prologue

Prologue

* * *

_The end is ending; these are the final days.  
Fate is fated; we are set on opposite sides._

_We stand apart; even the distance between our hearts is vast.  
But though they call you "Destroyer" and I "Savior",  
I have only one name for you, and you for I: _  
_Friend._

* * *

Daxtin remembered…

_Twilight Town. His home, ever warm in the eternal sunset. Even if he wasn't warm. He was an orphan, with no friends, no family, no connections or relations. A real nobody. Until that day…_

_The world froze, and creatures of black invaded. Living, creeping shadows flooded the streets, coming after him. They swarmed him, unaffected by the blows from the toy swords that were his only weapons. And he fell into the darkness._

"Is this how it ends?"

_But rather than oblivion, was a revelation. By facing the trials given to him, he attained power: the aura blades, Joiner and Divider. Black and white, with blue-green orbs inset in the flat, blunted blades, they helped him to defeat the white monster that haunted this dream-like realm, returning him to wakefulness._

Remember: Always hold onto your light, and never forget your darkness. Your heart is what you make of it.

_A creature in white, twisting and surreal, stole his necklace and led him away from the town, to the old abandoned mansion. And it was there that he met her._

_After defeating the creature and retrieving the necklace, he watched as a dark portal opened, a girl in black suit stumbling from it. She asked for his help, and as she did, her pursuers arrived, constructs with armor and blades, yet summoned of paper._

"Damn… she's caught up with me,"

_Together they defeated them, he with aura blades, her with a shaft of pure darkness, the Shadow Lance. For Anya was a Heartless._

"Please, you have to come with me. I can't stay here to protect you, and if you stay here alone, I can assure you that she'll track you down for helping me escape, and then she'll turn you into one of her servants."

_He followed her through the dark portal, forever leaving his quiet existence behind and stepping into the unknown._

"I guess my summer vacation… is over."

* * *

One Year Ago:

She was lost, confused and dazed. All around her, people screamed and yelled, running in terror or fighting for their lives against the dark creatures that had risen from the shadows. The whole bloody scene stretched out before her, illuminated by the flickering firelight of the burning buildings. It was hell.

"Zan? Ignis?" she called helplessly, her voice lost in the chaos. She tried shouting. "Where are you?"

The only thing she attracted the attention of was one of the sinister shadow beasts, its yellow eyes glowing hungrily as it moved towards her erratically, its long jagged antenna zigzagging behind its head. The monster lunged forwards, extending its dark claws, causing her to shriek in terror.

There was a burning flash of brilliant red, and then the creature was gone. In its place stood a familiar figure.

"Brother…" she said, smiling with relief. Panic returned as she remembered the other. "Do you know where Zan is?"

He turned to answer her, but she couldn't hear the words from his lips. His voice sounded so far away. Was it getting darker? She reached for him as he came over to her, arms extended, but it all went dark before she could feel his warmth.

She slipped in unconsciousness, and but for a brief respite, would not wake for another year.

* * *

_Destiny Islands. The first place he visited after leaving his home. It was there that they met Kairi, a Princess of Heart and mage adept. She explained what the dark creatures that had attacked Daxtin's home were._

"They're called Heartless. They're the darkness in people's hearts. When a heart leaves its body, it gets absorbed by the darkness. When that happens, a Heartless is formed."

_What was intended to be a simple tour of the islands quickly turned for the worse._

"Heartless! I think they're heading to the Secret Place. Quick, we have to get over there!"

_The situation quickly changed, as the Heartless were defeated by a new threat, a hooded figure in a black cloak._

"Silly shadow, silly princess, silly no one. Do you really think you can change anything? You, who know so little?"

_In the end, they were forced to flee, sweeping up yet another, Kairi, in their aimless journey to escape the danger that now stalked the lands._

_Anya, searching for a way to confront her sister, the one who had sent the paper constructs to capture her._

_Kairi, determined to find her friends, Kir, the Keyblade Master, and Diant, who had been lost to the darkness._

_And Daxtin… who did not know what he was looking for._

* * *

Nine Months Ago:

"Well... now what?" he asked calmly, with detached curiosity.

"What do you mean, 'now what'?" replied his companion lazily, scratching at his two-colored hair.

"Well, I'm just asking," replied the first speaker, "now that we've found our hearts–"

"Which was exceedingly simple, all things considered," interrupted the second.

"Now that we've found our hearts," repeated the other, "now what?"

"You forgot the part where we got keyblades," drawled his companion, his weapon flashing to life in his hand. He held it above him, turning it this way and that as he examined it in the sunlight. "Man, this is so cool. How cool is this? We've got keyblades. Us. That's so cool."

"Yes, very nice," said the first man indulgently.

"Actually, it is," said a new speaker, causing the two to look up from where they sat by the side of the road. The traveler flashed them a roguish grin, his own weapon flashing to life in his hand, a keyblade of gold and black. "Care to make a wager?"

"On what?" asked the first speaker suspiciously.

"Betting what?" asked the second with a smirk.

"Your membership," said the newcomer, "to an organization."

"An organization?" said the first man mildly.

"We were in one of those," said the second.

"We're not like Organization XIII," said the third. He smiled at the surprise on their faces. "Yes, I've heard of you two. Now, tell me… have you ever heard of the Order of the Key?"

* * *

_Radiant Garden. The home of King Ansem the Wise._

"My name is indeed Ansem. As for the Ansem that you are familiar with, who tried not long ago to open Kingdom Hearts, a delusional quest spurred by his being taken over by the darkness… that man was my son."

_Father of the Seeker of Darkness, King of Radiant Garden, Ansem taught them of the Heartless, Kingdom Hearts, and the Nobodies._

"A person is made of three components: heart, soul, and body. When the heart is removed, as when a Heartless is created, what happens to the body and soul? In most cases, without the heart, these just lose cohesion and return to nothing. However, with certain strong-willed individual, it continues existence. With a will and purpose, but no heart, these empty shells continue to live a twilight life, between light and dark, accepted by neither. That is what a Nobody is."

_He also told them of Organization XIII, the order of the man in the black cloak that had attacked them at Destiny Islands._

"Originally, they were all Nobodies, trying to find Kingdom Hearts in an attempt to make themselves whole, to fill their empty shells. Over time, it has lost its meaning as an order of Nobodies, and become an organization of thirteen individuals, all working together to achieve Kingdom Hearts, though for various reasons. Some, merely for power, others to regain lost homes, and still others to restore themselves."

_He also taught them of No Heart._

"Little is known about No Heart, though he seems to be connected intimately with Kingdom Hearts. Every resurgence of the Heartless and the crusade of the Keyblade Master against them marks a relatively small period of time. Further interspersed in these are the times when the Nobodies become involved. And marking the great epochs, the ends and beginnings of eras, are the times when No Heart appears."

_And thus the stage was set._

"So how long ago was this?"

"About another four or five hundred years. And that brings us to the present. The most recent wielder of the Keyblade has been Kir, Kairi's friend. Through many trials and obstacles, he sought out and overcame my son, who had become a servant of the darkness in his travels and studies. I only pray a similar fate has not befallen my other son."

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Kir just saved Kingdom Hearts from the bad Ansem. But now, Organization XIII, the guys in the black cloaks, is after Kingdom Hearts again."

_And so, their purpose clear, to save Kingdom Hearts, Daxtin, Anya and Kairi went forth against the Organization._

* * *

Six Months Ago:

"How creepy."

"How dark."

"It's perfect."

She smiled proprietarily at the grand hallway that lay outstretched before her as her sisters alternately gawked and gaped at the forbidding surrounding. She turned to her other followers.

"What do you think?" she asked innocently.

"I could get used to it," said the woman flippantly.

"Fine," said the warrior emotionlessly.

"It seems to have a bit of an air about it, what do you call it?" rambled the captain. "Oh yeah. Morbid."

"Kind of like her," said the red-haired sister.

"Zing!" laughed the honey-blonde sister.

"Remember who you're talking to," said the white-blonde sister with quiet menace. The other two quieted down, but didn't seem overly concerned. "Now, to business."

"And exactly what sort of business might we be pursuing, if I may be so bold as to ask," drawled the captain.

"Conquering the universe, of course," she said with a slim smile.

"Oh. I like that. Sounds like a plan."

* * *

_The Undercity. They had arrived in the World That Never Was, but before they could approach the Organization's hideout, they first had to navigate the dark and empty maze of black buildings and neon lights that covered the surface below the floating white castle. It was there that they met him. Diant, now a member of Organization XIII_

"But why? Why do you want Kingdom Hearts?"

"Because with it, anything is possible. Because with it, I can find Kir, I can save the worlds, I can right wrongs. Because with it, I can go home."

_Diant believe that he was tainted by darkness and could not dare return home before using Kingdom Hearts to cleanse himself of that. He had been the pawn of the Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and this was the only way he could think of to atone, no matter what the cost._

"Kingdom Hearts… will make me whole. Kingdom Hearts will cleanse me of my sins, my darkness. Only then can I go home. Only then, will _he_ be gone."

_For Diant's greatest evidence of his fall from light stood before him: his own Nobody, Daxtin._

"You're a Nobody. More specifically, you're _my_ Nobody. It's true. D-I-A-N-T, D-A-T-I-N. Plus an X for betrayal. Betrayal of the whole. You shouldn't exist. You don't exist. You don't feel, have emotions, or a heart. You're just my shadow, nothing else. So give up already and_ let me be whole_."

_The two inevitably clashed. It was not until Kairi chose sides that things came to a head._

"I can't let you hurt Daxtin."

"Kairi… What do you care about him? He's nobody! He's just a shadow of me!"

"Maybe he is. But he's also my friend."

"And I'm not?"

"I… I don't know. Right now, I'm not really sure if I know you."

_Their bond severed, Diant forced them to flee. They would meet again, but not before confronting another enemy: Anya's sister, the prophetess and paper witch, Emeline._

* * *

Three Months Ago:

"Oh, hey, it's you," said the hooded figure in white in mild surprise.

"Do I know you?" asked the scarred warrior.

"Don't you remember me?" replied other, pulling back his hood and flashing him a cocky smile.

"I… I think so," said the man. "I don't know. My memories, they… they're coming back, I think, but slowly. You're… you're…"

"Well, don't worry about it," said the other with a shrug. "We weren't that close anyway." He looked around the town curiously. "Hey, what do you say we grab a bite to eat? We can talk about old times. You can spill that mysterious past you had, and I can see if I can fill any gaps in your more recent memory, yeah?"

"…whatever," said the brunette.

* * *

_Kami. An artificial world built by the witch, Emeline. She had captured the Sephiroth, Angel of the Abyss, for his enormous power, and now her citadel was under assault by Organization XIII, who also wanted his power. Daxtin and his friends had come to free Sephiroth and make sure neither side had the enormous destructive force that he represented._

"He's only been around for the past four or five hundred years. Before then, he was two people, the One Winged Angel, and a fierce warrior named Cloud. But at some time or another, Sephiroth overcame Cloud, and absorbed him into his darkness, becoming the Angel of the Abyss.

"Sephiroth, Angel of the Abyss, has the most powerful battle aura in the universe. The amount of power he gives off unconsciously is more than you give off when trying your hardest. Now, imagine what anyone, especially Organization XIII, can do if they have a nexus of power that strong in their hands.

_As members of the Organization fought against Emeline's knights, the brothers Yazoo, Loz and Kadaj, Daxtin, Kairi and Anya infiltrated her castle and succeeded in freeing Cloud, who had been separated from Sephiroth during their capture by Emeline, and then Sephiroth himself. The two fought before disappearing, once again free to enact their endless dance across the universe. However, this still left the three teenagers stuck on Kami, and they were unable to escape without notice._

"Hello, sister. The boys are busy fighting, so I thought I'd take the chance to talk to you."

"About what?"

"I don't know… how about, everything? Like how you can control your darkness now. Congratulations. I was wondering how long it would take you to gain control of it. I was pretty sure you would succeed this time. You did it fairly fast. I think it was the boy's help."

"This time? What do you mean?"

"You wouldn't remember."

"Why wouldn't I… my memories. Why can't I remember anything before running away from you? What did you do with my memories?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, sister?"

_It was then that Emeline told Anya the truth, a truth that would not be revealed until later, partly because of Anya's shame, but also because at that moment, Xatheron, leader of Organization XIII, and embodiment of No Heart, arrived to confront Emeline._

* * *

One Month Ago:

"How is it coming?" asked the king.

"Pretty well, pretty well," said the engineer. "Just about finished up synching everything."

"And the princess?" he asked.

"Well, she says she's okay, but…" replied the other man, scratching his beard lazily. "There's a reason that there's supposed to be seven of them. I mean, sure this program's all well and fine, but trying to open the Door to Darkness with one girl? Technology has its limits."

"Yes, but the heart does not," replied the king sagely. He turned his attention to the girl in question, who was standing in the middle of a large, complex design drawn on the floor before a giant, heart-shaped gateway. "Isn't that right?"

"I'm fine," the redhead repeated. "I can do this."

"You sure?" asked the engineer dubiously.

"I am," she said confidently. There was a sudden surge of power, and then a flash of light as a churning, multi-colored portal opened in the gateway behind her. "I'm going to find him."

* * *

_Once again, they found themselves in the World That Never Was, this time for the last time. Already the Organization's numbers were diminished. Exeamine, Maieri and Fuuen had fallen at Kami in the fight against Emeline's knights. Griever, once known as Rann, former captain of the guard at Radiant Garden, had abandoned Organization XIII when he learned Kingdom Hearts was not the key to his enigmatic goal, Meili. Maxinaeus, the Organization's gate guard, had fell before Kairi, Daxtin and Anya as they broke into the World That Never Was, but not before imparting a gift of darkness upon Anya, bringing the Heartless side of her to overflowing. It was in the Undercity that this took its toll, when they met once more with Emeline._

"I can feel it, you know. The darkness in you, overflowing. What that Organization fool did isn't helping you either. You contain your power like a wild beast, afraid of it. And yet the harder you squeeze, the more it slips out of your grasp, out of your control. It's a constant war between whether you control the darkness, or if it controls you.

"She'll never be able to serve me as she is now. So I'm going to release her darkness. Then it's do or die. Become the darkness, or succumb to it."

_At the mere snap of her fingers, Emeline unleashed the Heartless within her sister. And so Daxtin and Kairi faced off against Anya's dark side as Anya herself fought within her heart with her darkness. The fight on the outside, however, was interrupted by another member of Organization XIII, Kyara. In the end, though, Anya recognized the darkness as a part of herself, accepting it and thus conquering it. With her newfound power, she defeated Kyara, clearing the way for the trio to enter the Organization's stronghold, the floating Castle of Naught._

_Once inside, they encountered another Nobody of the Organization, Lexyni, who would have defeated them but for help from an unexpected quarter: Kir, the keyblade master. Together, they defeated the Blinking Acrobat, only to come under attack by Organization XIII's sniper, Darian. They were saved by a hooded figure, but when they tried to thank him, he attempted to leave._

"Wait, don't go. You don't have to leave us. You're my friend… Diant."

_Their hidden savior was indeed Diant, who had finally decided to leave the Organization, after realizing that it was not his past sins of unwittingly helping the Seeker of Darkness that put him in conflict with his friends, but his current actions of helping Organization XIII were what distanced them. Now united, friends new and old were ready to face the rest of the Organization. But first, Anya was to reveal the truth to them._

_At the same time, Xatheron, leader of the Organization, was discovering his own hidden truth as he was confronted by the Organization's VIII, Roxtarit. In the form of a burning chakram in his gut._

"Why? Why would you betray us?"

"Aw, jeez. You just don't get it, do you? Man, I thought it'd be obvious by now. You guys are seriously pathetic. Back when I originally joined, it was practically the Organization's official pastime to figure out anagrams. But from your surprise, I guess you dimwits never tried it, huh? It's so obvious. Just take out the X, rearrange it… 'Roxtarit' spells 'Traitor'. How much more obvious could it be? You guys are totally blank with a capitol 'B'. I mean, Kensuke's the only one who figured it out, and he doesn't really count, you know?"

_In truth, Roxtarit's identity was actually Axel, the Flurry of the Dancing Flames, his spirit resurrected from the Realm of Darkness by a new master, and given the mission to function as a double agent within the Organization and cause their downfall. And the mastermind behind this was none other than Emeline. However, her true identity was something else. She was not Anya's sister, but her Nobody. And more than that…_

"Emeline and I, we aren't normal beings. We aren't just a girl who happened to be separated. You see, our true name… our true name is…"

"Xenthora."

_Xenthora, the second vessel of No Heart. She had manipulated the Organization into making Kingdom Hearts for her. She had separated with Anya, creating a weapon with which to destroy the Organization after they outlived their use. And it was she who had captured Daxtin, placed him in Twilight Town and erased his memories, as another instrument in the Organization's downfall. But therein lay the problem: Daxtin wasn't like other Nobodies. It was almost like he had a heart. And this made him a wildcard, capable of both fulfilling and destroying Xenthora's plans. With this in mind, they hurried to stop her._

_As they did, Xenthora was taking care of her own problems. When she revealed that she did not have what Axel had worked for her for, Roxas, he grew enraged. She eliminated him. But as she did, another figure confronted her: Kensuke, the Organization's VI, and Roxtarit's compatriot._

_Daxtin defeated the Organization's last member, the musician Xencarsse, then hurried on to the Altar of Naught, where Xenthora, ready to inherit Kingdom Hearts, awaited them._

* * *

Seven Days Ago:

"We're almost done," said the blonde girl, putting down her drawing.

"We… we are?" said the black-haired girl uncertainly. "With…"

"Restoring his memories. And your own," she said.

"Yeah…" said the other. Then, more confidently, "Yeah. And then he'll wake up, right?"

"Of course," she replied with a smile.

"But then we'll forget you…Na…um…" she trailed off, unable to finish.

"Don't worry," she said, still smiling. "It's my punishment for what I did. And we can always meet later."

"Yeah, that's right. You'll still be here when it's done, right?"

"Actually… that was something I wanted to tell you," said the artist. "I… I have to leave now. There're some people I need to find."

"But… are you sure? Will he be all right?" asked the other with concern.

"He'll be fine," she replied soothingly. "This White Room is all set to finish things up. It should only be a matter of days now, a week at most."

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going to find the Order of the Key."

"Let me go with you!" urged the other one.

"No, it's all right," replied the blonde with a smile. "You need to stay here to finish the memory process. Besides, you stayed here to help him. That's why you gave up…" she fell quiet at this.

"Gave up what?"

"I'm sorry. I said you wouldn't forget him but…" she trailed off again. "I'm sorry." Sighing, she stood and put down her drawing pad on the chair, then turned for the door in the room of endless white. "I have to go now. Maybe when we meet again, we can be friends. Even if I don't deserve it."

The dark girl watched as the artist left through the doors. Then she turned her attention back to the boy floating in the glassy, flower-like pod.

"Soon. You'll wake up soon."

* * *

_Xenthora unleashed upon them the depths of darkness, trapping each with dark reflections of themselves. They were brought out of this realm, however, by Kensuke._

"You fox-faced bastard. I thought I killed you."

"You should be more careful about things like that."

_Kensuke, it turned out, was yet another traitor within the Organization, and there was more to him than met the eye._

"I beat you within an inch of your life, transferred you onto paper, and then shredded said paper, obliterating each scrap as I went. You shouldn't have had a dead corpse left, much less be standing here, defying me. Who the _hell_ are you?"

"Just the younger brother of the Seeker of Darkness, heir to the throne of Radiant Garden, and son of King Ansem. That's all. My name's Riku. And I'm here to stop you."

_However, this all fell apart as Anya and Emeline met in battle… and Emeline won. Taking in her estranged sister, her Heartless, her other half, Xenthora was completed._

"And now, we are _one_."

_In quick succession, she knocked out Kensuke, banished Kairi, and defeated Diant. Then, she left for Kingdom Hearts, leaving Kir and Daxtin to follow._

_Inside the realm of Kingdom Hearts, the two faced against Xenthora, eventually defeating the second Vessel of No Heart and freeing Anya. They escaped back out of Kingdom Hearts and into the World That Never Was, sealing the door behind them. However, Anya was still half of Xenthora, and as long as she lived, No Heart had a vessel._

_As she writhed on the ground in pain, Daxtin, Kir and Riku only able to look on helplessly, aid came from an unexpected quarter: the closed doors to Kingdom Hearts, revealing, not Xenthora, but Emeline, the girl who was possessed, but no longer._

"Do we know you? Are you actually Xenthora?"

"My name's Emeline. Xenthora's writhing on the ground right now inside Anya."

_A ceremony was made: Emeline and Anya would contain No Heart. Riku would use his royal blood to write the seals. Then Daxtin would use the aura blades to join them in eternal banishment._

_But it would cost those three their lives. And Daxtin refused to throw them away._

_Instead, he divided No Heart from them, and in the depths of nothingness, he faced the nameless faceless figure._

"You, foolish Nobody, can do nothing. You are alone, and alone, you are nothing."

"Then I'll just have to help him,"

_Daxtin was not alone. Diant was there. Together, the two of them fought against No Heart, finally triumphing with their combined powers. And as No Heart disappeared from the Realm of Light, the worlds were all made right; lost souls returned to their homes, hearts separated from bodies returned, Heartless banished and Nobodies fixed. And so, Daxtin began to fade._

"Maybe. I am just nobody."

_And so he disappeared. And yet, he didn't. He found himself nowhere, surrounded by nothing… yet undeniably existent. And then a voice._

"Awaken, Daxtin."

…and then he remembered no more.

* * *

Today:

He pulled aside the heavy, stone door, letting in a flood of light and fresh air into the dark, dusty room that had not had either for a year. A set of stairs, carven from the stone, led the way down into the darkness.

"Lead the way," he said with a fox-like smile at his companion.

"I should push you down these," she replied with casual malice as she walked past him. "Just to make sure it's not trapped, of course."

"Of course," he agreed, following her down.

A flickering flame of paper burned above her palm, lighting the way with a flickering white glow. They walked down for what seemed ages, straight down into the dark. After a long silence, broken only by their steps, they came to the bottom. There was another stone door, which the man pulled aside with some effort before the slender girl he travelled with walked into the room beyond.

The inner chamber was a small, simple square room with only one feature: a stony, coffin-like stone box, covered in the dust of the past year.

She placed a graceful hand atop it before brushing off the top and blowing away the covering layer. There were no marks, excepting one: that of a key.

"So this is it?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. "This is our final hope."

She stood back as he moved aside the heavy stone lid, dropping it heavily on the floor besides the box. She then stepped forwards once more, looking over the edge and inside at what lay there.

"And now… awaken."

* * *

_Finally: Welcome to Sin of Remebrance. This is the third and final book of Kingdom Hearts: Memorandum, and the sequal to both Memories of Nobody and The Forgotten Castle. However, reading those two is not required; I will do my best to fill in all gaps and treat every character like a new character with necessary description. Some things may not be as meaningful, and a number of hints will not be as obvious without prior knowledge, so I recommend reading MoN and TFC anyway._

_Sin of Remembrance will feature a large cast of characters both old and new, including a number of characters from the original games. Also, this will wade out the most into unknown territory, going with my own made up ideas of how Kingdom Hearts works and so on, all of which will undoubtedly clash with the canon that will be presented in Birth By Sleep. But oh well. That's the point of fanfiction.  
_

_I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to update regularly, but don't hold your breath; this one looks to be the longest yet of the three._


	2. The Chosen One

Chapter 1: The Chosen One

* * *

She was dreaming. She was remembering her home, the beautiful, idyllic countryside of Little Arcadia. She remembered running through the endless green fields that surrounded the village, stretching off into the distance towards the mountains that surrounded the valley protectively. Playing under the endless sunshine. Every day was another day in an endless summer. Until that day.

Evening had come and the sky had fallen. Burning rocks had come shooting from the sky as the stars winked out, one by one. And then the darkness came.

Creatures of black crawling out of the wreckage, forming from the shadows. Their glowing yellow eyes hungry, the creatures had struck down the defenseless villagers, swallowing them into the darkness and devouring their hearts. A nightmare.

And then, in the last moments, _he_ had saved her.

Before she could remember any more though, a voice called to her. Distant, muffled, as if from beyond a wall. Talking, not to her… perhaps about her? Then a loud grinding noise, as stone on stone. And then, clearly:

"And now… awaken."

* * *

Skye opened her eyes. She was lying down on her side, curled up in a ball inside the cushioned stone chest. Sitting up, she looked around, drinking in her surroundings as she let out a yawn, stretching widely. Where was she?

She remembered, vaguely, these stone walls, that long set of stairs. Her brother had brought her here. Her brother…

"Ignis?" she asked suddenly.

"What?" replied a gentle, feminine voice. It was then that Skye realized she wasn't alone. The speaker was a girl with long, platinum blonde hair and clear blue eyes wearing a white sundress. With her was a man in a red yukata with a long red scarf wrapped about his neck. He had spiky blonde hair and squinted as he smiled slyly, giving him a fox-like appearance.

"Who are you? Where's Ignis? And Zan," she added, backing away from them cautiously, though she soon ran out of space as she backed into the edge of the box she was standing in.

"I don't really know who those people are," said the girl, watching her coolly, "but my name is Emeline."

"Riku," said the man, flashing a grin. "_Yoroshiku, ne?_"

"My name's Skye," she replied, a little hesitantly.

"We thought it might be something like that," murmured Emeline.

"What do you mean? Just who are you two?" she asked in bewilderment. "I don't remember ever seeing you in the village."

"We're from far away," she explained.

"And that's an understatement," added Riku. Catching Emeline's glare, he gave a shrug. "What?"

"Would you not interrupt?" she said irritably.

"Would you not hog the spotlight?" said the prince. "After all those doors you made me open and stone lids and whatnot, how come you're the only one who gets to talk?"

"Because, you don't take things seriously enough," said Emeline.

"And you take things far too seriously," he replied glibly.

"Would you just be quiet?" she requested, low menace in her voice.

"Jus' sayin', fair's fair," he sighed with a shrug, before going quiet. Skye could hear Emeline muttering under her breath, something about "writing him out of the story", before she continued on.

"As I was saying, before I was so _rudely_ interrupted," she said pointedly, glaring daggers at the man in red, who feigned oblivious to her irritation, "we're from far away. A different realm, in fact."

"A different realm?" asked Skye, puzzled. "What does that even mean?"

"There are three realms," she explained. "We are from the Realm of Light. A year ago, we fought in a battle in the Twilight Realm. After that, we ended up here in the Realm of Darkness."

"This is the Realm of Darkness? Isn't that bad?" asked Skye doubtfully.

"Not really," replied Riku with a smile. "Light and dark are two halves of the same coin. Neither is particularly good or bad."

"Besides, didn't you grow up here?" said Emeline. "Did it seem like a bad place to you?"

"Well, no," replied Skye. "Wait, we're in Little Arcadia?"

"That's what the ruins outside said," replied Riku with a shrug.

"Ruins?" said the girl with surprise. She suddenly shot up straight as she remembered. "Oh, my gosh, the village!"

Jumping over the edge of the box, Skye sped past the two travelers and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Riku yelled ineffectually after her to stop, but Emeline only shook her head.

"You idiot," she sighed.

"She was gonna find out anyway," he said defensively.

Emeline only shook her head again then headed up the stairs after the girl.

* * *

Skye ran up the stairs, her feet pounding against the stone steps in time with the frantic tattoo of her heart. Was everyone all right? What had happened that night? What were those black monsters that had attacked the village? Where were Zan and Ignis? What did they mean, ruins? As these thoughts ran through Skye's head, she brought her gaze forwards, towards the entrance. The light above steadily grew larger and larger until it filled her vision, and she came bursting out of the dark, stale air of the cave she had been sleeping in and out into the open.

She had awakened to a world changed.

No longer was the peaceful village, the quaint houses and endless green fields. Now there was only destruction and ruin; all around, the crumbled remains of buildings, the burnt ashes where grass once grew. This world was dead.

Skye stood there, staring in shock at the transformation her home had undergone, seemingly in one night. She was only brought out of this trance when she heard footsteps behind her, turning to see the two travelers, Emeline and Riku, coming out of the underground stairway.

"Quick, you have to help me," she told them urgently, grabbing their hands.

"That's what we're here for," said Kensuke casually.

"What do you need?" asked Emeline calmly.

Skye just stared at them for a moment. How could they be so calm in the face of such destruction? Such violence? Why weren't they worried at all?

"You have to help me look for my brother, my friends, anyone!" said Skye. "Any survivors at all! I don't know, did you see anyone when you came here? Maybe some people managed to stay safe like I did, who knows. We've got to get looking!"

She turned then and started to run off. She didn't get too far though before she heard one of them, Emeline, call out to her.

"Skye, wait up."

Turning, she found, to her frustration, that the pair hadn't even moved an inch.

"What are you two waiting for?" she demanded angrily. "People could be dying! The attack last night, it was horrible, it was, like, I don't know, something out of a nightmare! How can you just stand there?"

The pair only stood silently as she stomped back towards them, Riku only watching her mysteriously, his red scarf flapping in an errant breeze that stirred the ashes, while Emeline flipped through an old-looking tome. Where had she gotten that from?

"Skye, I know you'll find this hard to believe," said the older girl, looking up from her book to her with a sad gaze, "but there's no one here. Not anymore."  
"How can you be sure?" shouted Skye. "Did you look?"

"It is written," said Emeline quietly. "But more than that, what's also written… is that the fall of Little Arcadia… happened a year ago."

"What?"

* * *

Emeline watched, clinically observing as the girl dropped to her knees in shock, slumping to the ground. Was this girl really the one they were looking for? She certainly didn't act the part. Nor did she look it, particularly.

Skye had clear blue eyes and long blonde hair, her bangs held out of her face by a pair of hairclips; the rest was tied back in a loose ponytail. She wore a light-blue sweatshirt with detached sleeves. Perhaps it was due to being a year older that it didn't cover her midriff, but Emeline suspected it was just the style. She also wore baggy black shorts with a pair of crisscrossing belts and side-packs over her overly large shoes. A real tomboy, though unmistakably female. Actually, casualness of the shorts and shirt reminded her vaguely of the last one, Kir. Really, why did such awesome power choose such children? The girl couldn't possibly be more than fifteen, sixteen at the most.

Of course, how much of an indicator was age? Emeline herself was only a slender young girl of seventeen, yet had singe-handedly, as Xenthora, anyway, almost managed to conquer the Realm of Light. That was only a year ago, but it seemed like a whole lifetime ago; for her, it was, in a way.

And in comparison, she reflected, there was the idiot she was travelling with: Riku, son of Ansem the Wise, brother of the Seeker of Darkness and Prince of Radiant Garden. In his late twenties perhaps? She'd never asked. And what had he accomplished? As far as she could tell, that list was limited to being a complete and utter pest; the fox-faced blonde was chatty and indiscreet; on top of which, he fancied himself to be witty and clever. Truly an obnoxious travelling companion, though he did have his uses. Besides, if what she'd read was any indication, protecting this girl was more than she alone could handle.

Now, to get this show on the road…

"Everyone that lived here has since moved on," said Emeline, bringing Skye partway out of her shocked state. "They've left, one way or another. They might have fled, or they might have–"

"They're not dead!" said Skye angrily, shaking her head in denial. "They can't be. Zan wouldn't… Ignis wouldn't…"

"I'm not saying they are," said the prophetess calmly. "And if they were close to you, there's a good chance they aren't. Besides, the Heartless don't kill, per se…"

"Heartless?" she asked, looking at them curiously.

"Beings born from the darkness in people's hearts," explained Emeline. "That's what those black things that attacked your village were; hearts devoured by darkness, seeking out hearts to devour in turn."

"So Zan and Ignis might have been taken by those things?" she asked. Emeline nodded.

"By the way," said Riku, offering her a hand up off the ground, "who are those two you keep mentioning?"  
"Well," said Skye, taking the proffered hand and standing up, "Ignis is my older brother; he's my only family. And Zan is… my best friend."

Emeline noted the pause in the girl's statement, but chose not to comment on it.

"How would you like to go looking for them?" asked Emeline instead.

"What do you mean?" she replied

"There are many worlds besides this one," said Emeline. "Your friend and your brother may be on one of them. How would you like to come with us and look for you friends?"

"Okay… but what's the catch?" asked Skye cautiously.

"You just have to do what you were destined to do," murmured Emeline mysteriously, opening her book. Pulling a pen out from the spine, she began writing on it, the scratching of the pen upon paper loud in the near-silence of this dead world.

"And… what am I destined to do?"

"Well, I'll explain," said Emeline, finishing her paragraph, "when you have the key."

Before Skye could ask another question, the older girl's hand shot forwards, grabbing her head. There was a surge of power, and then all was darkness.

* * *

Skye awoke to darkness. But there was light… from below.

Sitting up, she looked around. Everywhere, nothing but darkness.

She looked down. She was sitting on a giant stained glass window, a round platform. She stood up to get a better look at the picture.

It was a portrait of herself. Behind her were Emeline and Riku. There were other figures, some she didn't recognize, some that she did. Both Zan and Ignis were in the background, but in shadow. Closer to her were a pair of boys, twins by the look of how similar their faces and eyes were. One had a mess of spiky, dirty-blonde hair that shot back from his head, some of it tied off in a ponytail at the base of his neck. He had a wide grin. The other brother, with solemn face, had a mess of lighter blonde hair that curved up and forwards in spikes. Who were they? What did the picture mean?

As she wondered this, a voice, omnipresent and bodiless, spoke.

_You will be the last one. After you, for better or worse, there will be no others._

"What are you talking about?" said Skye, calling out into the darkness, looking around for the speaker.

_This is the end of an era. Of many eras. And you shall be the key._

At this, there was a spark of light at the center of the platform, a few feet off the ground. The glowing speck grew until it became an all-consuming flash of light. When Skye opened her eyes, there it was: the key.

Floating there was a key, about three-feet long, made of metal. On one end of the long, silver haft was the hefty hand guards, a trapezoid of gold with rounded edges. On the other end were the teeth of the keys, four flat spikes that carved the outline of a crown between them.

_The Kingdom Key, Heart of all Keyblades._

Walking forwards, entranced by this weapon, this keyblade, Skye stopped before it. Then, without a second thought, she reached up and grasped the hilt. It fit naturally in her hand, and contrary to her initial beliefs, the weight was comfortable, not heavy or unwieldy.

It was as she was marveling at how perfect the Kingdom Key seemed for her that a sudden chill ran down her back. Spinning around, weapon in hand, she found herself looking up at an enormous titan in black, a muscular demon with glowing yellow eyes that stared down at her from the shadows. There was a giant heart-shaped hole in its chest.

"Heartless…" said Skye, stunned by the sheer size and presence of this monster.

She was brought out of her shock as it lumbered forwards to her, swinging a gigantic fist towards her. She leapt back out of the way, suddenly glad for all the time she'd spent play fighting with, and getting ambushed by, Zan, rather than being a good little girl and playing dolls or something. Another split second reaction kept her mere inches from being smashed again.

"How am I supposed to fight something this huge?" she yelled helplessly, swinging at the enormous hand out of desperation. As if in answer, the keyblade shone with a powerful light, driving back the giant Heartless and causing it to howl in pain.

Taking the initiative, Skye lashed out at its legs, diving to the side when it tried to grab her with a hand. Leaping onto the offending limb, she ran up the monster's arm until she came to its face.

"You want me? Then have some of this!" she shouted before slamming the keyblade, point first, into the darkness of its face. There was blinding flash of light, and then the darkness was gone.

Rather than falling, Skye found herself floating softly to the ground, even as the Heartless, the platform, and the darkness around them faded away into white nothing.

_And now, you are the Final Keyblade Master._

* * *

Skye awoke once more, surprised to find herself standing. It had just been a dream…

Or had it?

"So you did it," murmured Emeline. "Not that I'd expect any less from you."

No, not a dream.

Looking around, Skye found that it was all still real. The ruins of Little Arcadia, the two strange travelers that had woken her from her sleep in that tomb. And the familiar weight of the keyblade in her hand.

The keyblade.

Skye looked down in surprise to find the weapon grasped firmly in her right hand. Had it really been a dream? What was that vision, that voice?

"What… happened?" she asked hesitantly.

"The Station of Awakening," replied Emeline. "Something that I suspect you should have seen a year ago… but for whatever reason, you didn't. Apparently, you slept through the destruction of your home, which normally would have been the catalyst to your ascendance as the Keyblade Master." She shrugged then. "So, I just triggered it manually. Can't be a Keyblade Master without a key."

"What is a keyblade?" asked Skye, holding up the Kingdom Key and turning it this way and that as she looked at it.

"It's the manifestation of person's heart," replied Riku with an easy smile. "Their own talents, their feelings… so it's unique in every case. See?" At this, he gave a flick of his wrist, a long, metal keyblade appearing in his hand in a flash of light. It had a wooden haft, with an iron blade running down one side. The metal jutted out at an angle towards the end, forming a large titled square at the tip, though rectangular slots were cut out here and there, giving it a key-like appearance. An eccentric-looking sword, but undeniably solid and sharp.

"Hey, how come his looks cooler than mine?" Skye noted with dismay.

"Riku, don't confuse her," groaned Emeline, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well, I suppose since you've already seen…"

Holding out her hand, Emeline grasped her own keyblade, manifesting it in an instant. It was a thin, white affair, like folded pieces of paper, but inlaid with silver vines. The end had three graceful spikes of white lined with silver. The handle was wrapped in silver wire. Light and graceful, it suited her perfectly.

"It's a little different in the Realm of Light," said Emeline. "But here, in the darkness, there's a lot less difference between feelings and reality. As a result, many people can manifest the power of their hearts as keyblades. Keyblades, therefore, are just manifestations of our unique talents. My Paper Finesse has manipulation over paper, able to create it and change its form. Riku's keyblade, King's Steel, is, I don't know, good for bashing things in and getting in the way."

"_Ara ara_, no need to be filling her head with such lies now," said Riku with an easy grin.

"Your Kingdom Key, on the other hand, is special," said Emeline. "It, with a few others, has the ability to open doorways, lock away hearts, including the hearts of worlds, and most importantly, save Kingdom Hearts."

"Kingdom Hearts?" asked Skye.

"People have hearts," explained Emeline. "In turn, because of people, worlds have hearts. And from that, all worlds are from one heart, the great heart that connects us all: Kingdom Hearts. Encompassing all three realms, all worlds, and all people, Kingdom Hearts is the ultimate source of all life, of all power. And so many people have tried to capture it. But most dangerous of those people, if it can be said to be a person, is No Heart. No Heart is a being that desires Kingdom Hearts. For what purpose or reason, no one's sure. But your keyblade is instrumental in defeating him."

"And… you need me to beat this No Heart?" asked Skye.

"Eventually… things are starting to look that way," she replied. She leveled her gaze at her, her face extremely serious. "Skye. You are the Final Keyblade Master. It is foretold in prophecy. You will be the one to face No Heart in the end."

"What? Me? How am I supposed to do that?" she protested. "How am I supposed to do all these things you're talking about, like saving the world?"

"Not just the world, but all worlds," corrected Riku cheerfully.

"That's even worse!" Skye said, panicking more. Emeline leveled a glare at Riku irritably, but the prince only smiled at her.

"That's why we're here to help you," said Emeline, returning her attention to the girl. "And we still have some time. To prepare, we need to find some things."

"Like what?" asked Skye, struggling to push down her fear.

"There are prophecies scattered about the worlds that talk about this final battle," she answered. "The three of us will search for them. As we do, we'll encounter many challenges, and as a result, I'm sure you'll grow stronger."

"And then?"

"Well, hopefully the prophecies will give us an idea of what else we need," said Emeline.

"Not that a year's worth of work has given us any leads," sighed Riku disparagingly.

"It led us here, didn't it?" said Emeline pointedly. "Besides, we've got some names to work with now. The Master of Nothing, the Prince of Darkness, the Queen of Hearts..."

"That's you, by the way," said Riku, winking at Skye.

"Anyway, while we look, we can help you search for your brother and your friend," said Emeline, giving her a small smile.

"So, what do you say, _ojou-chan_?" asked the fox.

"It _is_ your destiny," reminded the witch.

"Well…" said the girl. She looked around at the ruins that once were her home. A whole year. She was the only one left. But maybe, somewhere out there, they were waiting for her. Her resolve hardened, she brought her gaze back to the two before her. And then she smiled. "Let's go!"

"That's the spirit," said Riku.

"I think we should look into the Eternal Prophecy first," murmured Emeline.

_Zan, Ignis,_ thought Skye to herself, _I'm coming._

* * *

_Name: Skye__  
Age: 15  
Role: The Final Keyblade Master  
Summary: Destined child, chosen of the Keyblade, Skye's now on a quest along with Emeline and Riku to put together the prophecies surrounding the Final Battle. Along the way, she hopes to find her friend, Zan, and her brother, Ignis._

_Her design comes from the main character, Orchid, of my previous fanfiction, Black Orchid, another KH fanfic. They're basically the same, characterwise, though I think Skye might be a little more mature? Who knows; I don't exactly have a firm grasp of her personality at the moment, so let's just see how she develops, ne?_

* * *

_Chapter Up: Well, here's the first chapter. I really hope this isn't too confusing for new readers? Well, that's more likely to apply next chapter. Anyway, for you older readers, go back and re-read chapter 1 of Memories of Nobody, specifically the Station of Serenity part. Recognize the last stained glass window now?  
Oh, and it's now going to be standard for me to include a little mini-profile at the end of each chapter. Hooray._

_Kensuke vocabulator:_

_Yoroshiku, ne: Nice to meetcha  
Ara ara: my, my...  
Ojou-chan: little lady (diminutive)_

_Next Chapter: Daxtin Awakens... in the hands of the Enemy!?_


	3. Waking to Darkness

Chapter 2: Waking to Darkness

* * *

"Awaken, Daxtin."

Daxtin opened his eyes. Whose voice had said that? There was no one around. Beyond the crystal walls of his prison, only endless white.

But then, nobody had said anything. There hadn't been a voice. Only the memory of a voice. A memory from long ago.

His attention was drawn from these thoughts as a figure came into view, walking around from the other side of the pod he was in. It was a figure all in black. A familiar one, no less.

"Anya!" he said, a grin widening on his face. However, the girl gave no reaction, continuing to walk on past. Panicking, Daxtin tried again. "Anya! Hey, Anya!"

Still no reaction.

"Anya!" he shouted once more, banging on the crystal sides of the pod. As he did, sheaves of metal fell away like petals; they must have been see-through while pressed up against the inner pod, but not from the outside. As the petals fell away, sound flooded in on Daxtin's ears; he could hear the click of Anya's shoes as she stopped suddenly, then her surprised gasp as she turned to face him.

"Daxtin!" she said excitedly, smiling in shock and pleasant surprise.

"'morning," he said. Looking around, he added, "Where are we?"

"I'm not really sure where this is," said Anya. "I mean, I know this room… I think… but I don't know where this room is."

"Huh?" asked Daxtin, hopping down out of the stasis pod. He gave a yawn then, stretching his arms. "Man, I'm really tired. Was I sleeping?"

"Yeah… for some reason, I don't really remember," said Anya, meandering through her stream of consciousness, "but I think you were asleep for a long time."

"How long?" he asked. The girl only shook her head. "Right. You don't remember." Daxtin tried to rack his brains for answers. "Hmm… the last thing I remember, Diant and I fought No Heart… and then… something? I don't know, I felt like there was another big fight after that. But I don't really remember. How about you?"

"Diant…" murmured Anya distantly. She shook her head then, dispelling the trance. "I feel like I'm forgetting something about him."

"Yeah, but I mean, what do you remember last?" pressed Daxtin, not sure what to make of her train of thought.

"Well, I remember you saving me from Emeline… and then No Heart tried to take over me and… I think you saved me?"

"Yeah, something like that. And after that?"

"I don't know. I'm getting the same sort of feeling though. Something else happened after that. Then you fell asleep and I was here watching over you."

"Were you?" he said, a little embarrassed.

"Yeah… but with someone else," said Anya. "Ohhh, I can't remember at all!"

"Well, I guess there's no point in worrying about that right now," he said. "Let's just find out where we are and what's going on."

Daxtin quickly took stock of the situation. They were in what appeared to be an endlessly white room, though the presence of a free-standing door a few yards away suggested that this was an illusion. Other than that, the only furnishings of the room were the now open stasis pod he had apparently been sleeping in for whatever reason, and a chair. On it was a pad of paper and some colored pencils.

"Are those yours?" he asked, pointing at them. Anya shook her head. Well, it didn't look like they'd be much use anyway. So it appeared their only possessions where themselves.

Daxtin was a medium-sized young man of seventeen years, at least he was when he left Twilight Town. He didn't seem to have changed much, but it was hard to tell without a mirror. He had piercing blue eyes and pale blonde hair that spiked up and forwards in a messy spiral. He was wearing a black shirt and tan pants that turned black and baggy about halfway down. He also wore a pair of white plastic arm braces, for fighting, and a long, white, sleeveless overcoat, marked with his symbol, the spiked cross with the circle in the center, the same as on his necklace. Reaching for it, he found the metal pendant, and the chain it was attached to, gone, but for some reason, it didn't bother him. Strange.

As for Anya, she was about a year younger than him. Unlike Daxtin, she had changed noticeably in the time he'd been asleep. Though her face was still rounded, it wasn't quite so boyish looking, even though she still had the same jaw-length black hair. Also, her body now curved in places that had once been androgynously undefined under the black suit jacket and slacks she'd used to wear, now replaced with a similar, but closer fitting jacket, and a short skirt that exposed a small portion of thigh before her legs were covered by long black stockings and knee-length black boots. He had once mistaken her for a boy; he couldn't see anyone making that mistake now.

And as for assets unseen…

"Anya, can you still use the darkness?" asked Daxtin quietly.

"Of course," she said with a gentle smile. With an easy motion of her hand, she summoned a long, utter line of darkness, a spar of black known as the Shadow Lance. "And you?"

"I don't know," said Daxtin uncertainly, looking at his hands. He then held his arms out to the sides, concentrating. "Come to me… Joiner! Divider!"

There was a flash of light, then the twin aura blades formed in his hands. The hexagonal hand guards were a continuous part of the flat, blunt blades that extended about three feet before ending in wide curves. A blue-green orb was inset in each blade, near the end, with a line running through it in two directions, one down the blade, one across it, forming a cross with the orb at the center. Joiner was white with black cross; Divider was black with white cross.

"Well, it looks like everything's present and accounted for," said Daxtin with a smile. "Just like old times."

"Yeah," smiled Anya. "You, me and..."

Silence filled the room as her voice trailed off.

"Well," said Daxtin after a few seconds, "it's probably better that Kairi's not here. That mean's she's probably home now, right? Instead of lost, wherever the heck we are."

"Yeah, probably," agreed Anya with a small smile. Still, she regretted bringing it up. It was clear that Daxtin missed her.

"Anyway, let's get out of here and look around," he said, bringing Anya's attention to the present. "Nothing's going to happen if we just stand here."

"Right," she said with a nod, following him as he headed for the door.

* * *

The hallway outside the White Room was in stark contrast to it. The setting was dark, almost creepy, a stonework hallway hung with dark banners and tapestries. It was lit by a series of torches, their flickering light casting long, dancing shadows, though from his experience with the Heartless, Daxtin wasn't sure it was always the torches that made the shadows move. Like some sort of evil medieval castle, decorations included elaborated candelabras and suits of armor, along with swords and shields along the walls. There was something vaguely demonic about the place.

"Well, nothing for it," muttered Daxtin, stepping out of the White room and into the hall. Anya timidly followed, jumping a little as the door slammed closed behind the two of them.

Nothing jumped out at them, but the two remained on high tension anyway; it wasn't exactly a friendly-looking place, and until they found out where they were, Daxtin had his aura blades out and ready for anything. Every now and then, he thought he'd see something disappear around a corner or into a doorway, but with the poor, inconsistent lighting, it was impossible to tell.

Despite this, their explorations remained uneventful, though interesting nonetheless. Corridors turned unexpectedly, doors were of mismatches shapes and sizes. Ceiling heights varied, and not all the walls were perpendicular to the floor. The architect must have been demented, or genius beyond mortal recognition.

Daxtin assumed it was the former.

Some basics of architecture still held true there: smaller corridors led to bigger hallways, which led to larger, and apparently more important, rooms and sections of this castle. It wasn't too long before the pair found themselves standing before a grand pair of doors, easily fifteen feet high and more ornate than anything they'd seen so far. The swirling, spiked designs of black iron on hardwood were both entrancing and subtly frightening at the same time.

"Maybe we shouldn't," said Anya, stepping back and putting Daxtin between her and the doors.

"There's got to be someone here," reasoned Daxtin. He stepped forwards, putting his hands to the doors. "This place is too well maintained to be empty. We've looked everywhere else; I'm sure we'll find them in here."

"That's what I'm afraid of," murmured the dark-haired girl as he pushed, the imposing barrier giving way with a low groan.

Beyond the great doors was a grand hall, a huge room the size of a small cathedral. Lined with towering pillars and hellish lines of fire, it was like a demon's throne room. Finishing the look was a raised dais at the far end, complete with a throne, the back of which looked like the lid to a coffin. It wasn't until they were nearly at the foot of the dais though, could they tell who was sitting on it, there in the shadows.

It was a pale young girl in a dark, gothic dress, all frill and ribbons and black. Small black, bat-like wings fluttered over her shoulders. She was idly holding a much-abused stuffed rabbit in her lap, a doll whose over-sized stitches made it look mildly reminiscent of bad surgery. Though she picked at the stitches, her cold, unhurried gray eyes were focused on the two before her.

"So, you're finally awake," she said quietly, the hint of a smile barely playing across her lips, "Daxtin."

"Excuse me? Do I know you?" the boy asked bluntly.

"You do," murmured the mysterious girl, "and you don't. But I suppose that's not the answer you were looking for, was it?"

"Ah, so sad, you've forgotten all about us!" came a sweet, girlish voice. Another young girl came dancing out of the shadows. She had bright blue eyes and honey blonde hair done up in a pile of curls tied behind her head. She wore a cute pink and white dress with a short, wide skirt and striped stockings. Little white wings hovered behind her shoulders, looking like toys as she pirouetted.

"I'm kind of relieved," said another girl, walking out along with the second. This one had frighteningly red hair and vivid green eyes. She was dressed boyishly in an archaic-looking waistcoat and pants, along with a black, short-brimmed hat that sat at a rakish angle on her head. A long, thin ponytail from the base of her skull was wrapped in cloth and tied off near the end with a small ring, two stylized wings coming off it.

"How so?" asked the honey-blonde.

"If he had remembered us, and saw us now, how we've fallen," said the third girl, "he'd probably be laughing at me."

"Is it really so bad being my servants?" asked the enthroned sister.

"Yeah, Luciella gave us cute dresses and stuff," said the second sister with a sweet smile to the third.

"That's the _worst_ part, Karie!" yelled the red haired fighter. She turned pleadingly to Daxtin. "She tried to make me wear a dress. A _dress_. Can you believe that?"

"Uh, what?" replied the Nobody cluelessly.

"Oh, but you looked so _adorable_ in a dress, Sam," came another voice. The speaker was another female, but a grown one. She had sharp blue eyes and slicked-back blonde hair, two little locks of which hovered above the rest, like some kind of antenna, or horns. She wore a sleeveless, skin-tight black top and black pants tucked into boots, a long frontless skirt like piece of clothing, also black, belted to her waist. Combined with the fingerless gloves she wore and the belt of knives slung from her shoulder, along with a few more strapped to her right arm, she had the look of some kind of combat assassin or something.

"Stuff it, Larxene," hissed the boyishly dressed red-head, waving her off as the woman tried to pinch her cheeks. "Don't make me hurt you."

"My, so scary!" wailed the knife-wielder in mock-terror. "Oh, Auron, protect me!"

"You hardly need protecting," said a stony faced man, following her out into the flickering firelight. He had a tough looking face, his eyes hidden behind black shades that couldn't hide the scars over his right eye. He had short black hair and wore a large, red jacket, one arm tucked in the front instead of the sleeve, the other half of the jacket hanging from the belt at his waist, exposing the black breastplate he wore underneath. A large collar concealed the bottom half of his face, at least from Daxtin's point of view, shorter and on lower ground than him, which, along with his sunglasses made it almost impossible to tell his expression.

"If anything, _you're_ the real threat here," sneered another male voice. This one belonged to a pale, elegant man with wispy locks f white hair, his pale blue eyes gazing disdainfully at the woman. He wore a suit of black armor, a crimson and black blade hanging from his waist.

"Say that again, Erion?" hissed the blonde. "You know I've always wanted to see if my knives can pierce that tin can you wear."

"Now, now, settle down," chided the girl on the throne, an oddly parental thing for a small child to be saying. Daxtin guessed she was no more than eleven or twelve.

"Um, wh-who are you people?" asked Anya timidly, bringing the whole group's attention to the pair standing before them.

"My name is Luciella," said the pale girl in the black dress. "I am queen of this castle and leader of this group."

"Queen?" snorted the red head. "More like a tyrannical bratty princess."

"Oh? Do you have a problem with my leadership?" murmured Luciella mildly, though there was an implicitly threatening air to the question.

"…not really," she grumbled after a while.  
"I'm Karie," said the honey-blonde little girl enthusiastically, jumping in during the pause that followed. That's Sam, she's Larxene, he's Erion, and the big guy's Auron!"

"Yeah, I kind of gathered as much," said Daxtin. "But just who are you people? What are you doing here? Where is for that matter?"

"You are in the Realm of Darkness," explained Luciella. "As opposed to the Realm of Light, the world you are familiar with."

"You mean there's two universes?" asked Anya curiously.

"Actually, there are three realms," she said. "But the Twilight Realm between overlaps on both. Twilight Town is an example of where it overlaps the Realm of Light."

"The Realm of Darkness, huh?" muttered Daxtin. "Does that mean this place is just full of Heartless and creepy places like this?"

"Not necessarily," replied Luciella. "It's just a different reflection of the Realm of Light. Though a few things are different here."

"Such as?"

"Everything is defined and bordered in the Realm of Light. Here in the darkness, such boundaries are not so clear. The way between worlds is freer, as is the way between dreams and reality, will and potential, the past and the future, and the hearts of one another. This is a realm of ideals."

"What does that even mean?"

"Reality is soft here," replied the girl. "The very strength of your heart can change the world. Many people have persevered hundreds of years simply by not dying. Power is freely available to all who have the will and desire for it. We stand in the shadow of Kingdom Hearts.

"Of course, a war of light will be coming soon," she murmured. "As all the little pawns start to scramble for the Keyblade Master."

"You mean Kir?" asked Anya in surprise. "He's here?"

"That silly boy? Of course not," laughed Larxene.

"You shouldn't make light of him," warned Auron. "You know the power of the keyblade first hand. After all, it's what sent you to this realm."

"Those are completely different things," she replied glibly. "Besides, he's not the Keyblade Master anymore."

"He's not?" said Daxtin, confused.

"The keyblade has forsaken him," confirmed Luciella. "It has gone on to his successor, the Final Keyblade Master."

"That sounds kind of… ominous," he noted hesitantly.

"It's the end of an era," said Luciella. "An end that you shall be a part of."  
"What do you mean?" asked Daxtin.

"There is a dark master in this realm, one who would take Kingdom Hearts for his own and destroy the Realm of Light," she explained. "To that end, he wants the Keyblade Master. It is your destiny to protect the Keyblade Master."

"Well, who is he? Where is he?" asked Daxtin. "How can I protect someone I don't know?"

"You'll have to find those answers on your own," replied the girl. "You two will have to travel the Realm of Darkness in search of the Final Keyblade Master. But don't worry; I'm not sending you out in the unknown by yourselves. I've prepared a guide for you. Jack?"

At this call, a man came stumbling out from the shadows behind the throne, walking with an odd gait, looking about aimlessly, his hands held up by his sides, waving about restlessly. He was wearing a triangular leather captain's hat, a large overcoat, a white silk shirt and black pants tucked into boots. A pistol hung from a belt hanging from one shoulder; the belt around his waist had a small black box hanging from it. A number of rings decorated his fingers, and a number of beads and strings decorated his long, unkempt hair and beard. His eyes darted about wildly before settling on the pair before the throne, his mouth falling into slightly twitchy frown, causing is mustache to jerk erratically. He looked certifiable.

"That's _Captain_ Jack," he corrected as he came to a stop beside Luciella. "Sparrow," he added. "_Captain_ Jack Sparrow. At your service," he said, directing this last part at Daxtin and Anya.

The two of them could only stare at this oddity, this pirate, this man who obviously had more than a few screws loose and didn't seem to mind at all.

"So," said the captain, making a sharp quarter-turn towards Luciella, "who in the world as these two, might I be so bold as too enquire?"

"I've been wondering that myself," added Larxene, eying Daxtin with a look that sent chills down his spine.

"My name's –" started Daxtin, before being cut off.

"I believe that I addressed my question to the young lady sitting enthroned here on her high and mighty attitude, did I not?" interrupted Jack. He took Daxtin's stunned confusion at his wordy sentence as agreement. "Right then." He turned once more to Luciella. "Them. Who are they?"

"Half-people," replied Luciella quietly, her eyes watching the pair coldly. "The girl is Anya, a Heartless. Her other side is Emeline. Together, they were Xenthora, the second vessel of No Heart."

"That's quite a claim to fame," he murmured. He looked over at Anya, then back to Luciella. "And, why aren't we killing her?"

"What part of 'were', past-tense, don't you understand, you idiot?" growled Sam irritably. "Xenthora doesn't exist anymore; the girl's just a normal Heartless now."

"To an extent, but yes," agreed Luciella. "She's no threat."

"Ah. I see. My mistake," admitted the captain, fidgeting restlessly. "And the boy?"

"Daxtin, Nobody of Diant," said Luciella. "The Nobody with a Heart."

"Ooh," cooed Larxene, smiling at Daxtin in way that he generally associated with how large predators looked at their prey.

"Diant's Nobody, hmm?" said Erion, taking interest in the conversation for the first time.

"It's the other part that's more important," reminded Auron.

"Now _that_ is intriguing," said Jack. "And I suppose that's why you want me to accompany them?"

"Of course," said Luciella.

"Wait, hold on a second," interrupted Daxtin. "I'm what? The Nobody with a Heart? What does that mean?"

"Just think about it for a second," said Sam disdainfully.

"It's pretty obvious," teased Karie.

"What do you mean? Anya, what–" he started, but dropped off as he looked towards the girl. Seeing her face triggered a memory, a sudden remembrance of what she had told him back in the World That Never Was.

_"When Emeline rewrote your memories, she entirely wiped your brain down to the motor functions and language skills. You should have had no memories of your feelings, and having no heart, should have been as good as emotionless. Despite this, after a first numb, if slightly confused day, you appeared to be a normal person. You showed emotions and responses normal to humans. Originally, she hypothesized that you were just learning emotions from those around you, but you were picking up proper usage and expression at an extraordinary rate, along with expressing emotions that she knew you hadn't witnessed. At times, it almost seemed like you had a heart."_

"I see you understand," said Luciella. "Then you know that I mean it when I say this: you are an important person. There are prophecies about you. And that is why _you_ must find the Keyblade Master."

"I… I see," said Daxtin hesitantly.

"Well, if that's all cleared up, we should be getting underway," said Jack brightly. "If you'll just follow me, I'll be showing you to my ship. It's wonderful ship, you know. Old as I am. Maybe older. We lost track after four-hundred."

And with that, the captain led the lost and confused pair out of the hallway and off towards their journey.

"Are you sure this is really a good idea?" asked Sam, watching as the trio left.

"The Keyblade Master is our natural enemy, after all," said Erion.

"There are some things bigger than light and dark," replied Luciella in an unconcerned tone. "My enemy's enemy is my friend, right?"

"You know that doesn't actually work," growled Sam irritably.

"I know," said Luciella, starting, once more, to pull her stuffed rabbit apart. "But it's good enough for now."

* * *

_Name: Daxtin  
Age: 18  
Role: The Nobody with a Heart  
Summary: The Nobody of Diant, who was a close friend of Kir, the previous Keyblade Master. He spent the early part of his "life" believe he was an orphan living in Twilight Town, before he met Anya and left for adventure. Together with her and Kairi, the three of them helped defend the Realm of Light and defeat Organization XIII and Xenthora, with Daxtin and Diant banishing No Heart from the Realm of Light in the end. Afterwards, Daxtin awoke in Castle Oblivion, where he and a warrior named Rann fought against one of the Seven, Lust and her servants. During this ordeal, Daxtin lost most of his memories, and had to go to sleep to regain them. This stasis lasted for an entire year._

_I don't really remember where Daxtin's design came from. Interesting how in neither MoN or SoR is he in who you think'd be the main role, the Keyblade Master, but he is the main character. I think I designed the Aura Blades first, and he followed after; Diant came after that.  
_

* * *

_Slowing: Ahh, I barely made it. But if I keep telling myself "1 chapter a week, 1 chapter a week", maybe I can keep it up.  
Maybe not.  
I keep picking up new stuff to do. It's horrible. Right now I've picked up a lot of new anime to watch, plus I'm trying to make a magic set for Touhou. Oh well.  
Anyway, I hope this chapter doesn't alienate all the new readers, since it refers a lot to MoN and TFC. Hmmm...  
Well, maybe the draw of having old characters, like Larxene, Auron and Jack Sparrow, present will help offset that.  
Oh, and I'll be updating my gallery (my homepage in my profile) with pictures of the characters as they are introduced in each chapter (well, not all characters will have pictures, just the main ones). Forgot to mention that last time.  
_

_Next Chapter: Meet the Nightwatch! In Dawn City, we find the enigmatic Gamble, and perhaps a new traveling companion?_


	4. The Locksmith

Chapter 3: The Locksmith

* * *

"And this, me lads, is the Black Pearl," announced Jack grandly, waving an arm unsteadily at the ship docked in the port. The giant galleon looked ancient and barely sea-worthy, having holes in the hull and patches on the black sail. Rather than an impressive flagship, it was more reminiscent of a ghost ship, or perhaps just a derelict. Perhaps in the right setting, it might look spooky, but sitting peacefully at port under the light of the full moon, it simply looked skeletal. And possibly deadly, at least in the sense that it might be fatal to ride aboard it. "Isn't it grand?"

"Yeah… grand," said Daxtin half-heartedly. Looking over, he saw Anya was having doubts about this too, though it looked like she was actually little scared of the ship. "Oh, come on, Anya. It'll be fine."

"Of course it will," blustered Sparrow, hurrying the two of them up the gangplank and onto the ship. "_I'm_ captain here, and while you're aboard, nothing will happen to you. Well, probably nothing. As long as it's within my power. And not entirely unreasonable."

"That's…" Daxtin wanted to say "reassuring" in a sarcastic tone, but he wasn't sure if the eccentric, if not downright insane, captain would notice.

"Well then, let's be underway," said Jack, spinning about on the spot and turning to face the castle. He pulled off his hat and waved it dramatically. "Fare thee well, Hollow Bastion. May your new midget master treat you well and not dump my trove into the black while I'm gone."

"Um, not to interrupt your farewells," said Daxtin uneasily, "but don't you need a crew to get underway?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I have a crew," he replied indignantly, giving the boy a disbelieving look. He waved an arm at the deck. "Just look at the lazy slobs."

Anya and Daxtin stared at the empty deck, then back to the captain. The looked once more at the deck, then back to the captain.

He was still smiling.

* * *

"Chop chop, now, get to it!" bellowed Jack.

"Aye-aye, sir!" shouted back Jack, Jack, and the other Jacks.

"What's our heading, Captain?" asked Helmsman Jack, who looked exactly like Captain Jack except for the lack of hat, and the vest instead of an overcoat. And he was, of course, no where near as ruggedly handsome or charming as Captain Jack Sparrow.  
"Set course for, um, let's see now," muttered Jack, suddenly looking lost and confused. Shaking his head, he raised a finger as he came to a conclusion. "Ah, yes. Dawn City. Set course for Dawn City!"

"Right you are, sir," said Helmsman Jack, immediately making mocking gestures the moment the captain turned away.

"Okay, the lot of you, hurry it up!" shouted Captain Jack as he trod down the stairs to the main deck. "Hoist the anchors, tighten the lines, raise the sails, um, scull the oars and, uh, drink the rum; belay that, _I'll_ drink the rum."

"Right you are, sir," said Crewman Jack, who looked remarkably like Captain Jack, only he was shirtless, displaying a multitude of tattoos and scars. He gave a smart salute before getting back to work, hauling away on the lines along with Crewman Jack, Crewman Jack, and Crewman Jack.

"Um, Captain?"

"Why aren't you at your pos- oh, it's you," said Jack, spinning about to see Daxtin looking at him funny. "What is it, lad?"

"You're shouting orders to yourself," the teenager pointed out.

"Of course I am," said Jack seriously. "Otherwise the bloody slackers wouldn't get anything done. Useless, the lot of 'em."

* * *

Daxtin wasn't sure what was stranger: the crazy man shouting orders to an empty ship, or the fact that, by all indication and the fact that they were under way and sailing smooth, his orders were actually being followed.

He decided not to press the issue.

* * *

It was eerie. Not just the captain who was a few screws loose and his ghost ship that followed his every order, but the fact that they were sailing through empty space. There was no water. Just darkness.

They'd left the moon and Hollow Bastion far behind, and now there was nothing but the swirling, churning shadows everywhere. Here and there, specks of light and color, signs off far off worlds would come into view, only to be quickly engulfed in darkness once more.

"How do you find your way in this?" asked Daxtin, peering out into the black.

"There're tricks," replied Jack from his place at the helm. "Mine's right here."

He tapped the black box hanging from his belt.

Daxtin didn't ask.

"Hey!" called Anya, from the front of the ship. "There's a really big light coming near!"

"That would be our place of destination," said Jack smugly. They watched as the glowing yellow light resolved into high white walls surrounding a gleaming, beautiful city, all suffused with the light of daybreak. "Welcome, my friends, to Dawn City."

* * *

Dawn City was a beautiful modern metropolis filled with white stone buildings with red tile roofs and flagstone paved streets. Everywhere, people went about their daily lives brightly and cheerfully. The Black Pearl, docked at the edge of the wall that encircled the city, looked completely out of place. Jack didn't seem to mind as he led the trio down the gangway and onto the ramparts, casually saluting and shouting orders at imaginary crewmen as the Black Pearl tied itself off.

"What is this place?" asked Daxtin, gazing out across the dazzling white town.

"Dawn City, a single ray of light and hope in the endless shadows of the Dark Realm," said Jack, sashaying up beside him. "A major hub in this side of the universe. Full of all sorts of bright promises and heart-warming nonsense. Disgusting, isn't it?"

"Oh, is someone used to shadier dives than our fair city?" came a young, female voice. "Or are you just a shadow who can't stand the light?"

"Tell me, Daxlin," muttered Sparrow, leaning over to his companion and speaking in a stage-whisper.

"Daxtin," corrected the Nobody.

"Daxtin," agreed the Captain. "Tell me, what is that obnoxious little thing coming towards us? I regret to say, but I'm famously terrible at being able to identify annoying little tikes that are obviously nothing but a nuisance and a thorn in the side of humanity."

Despite Jack's attempts to pretend she wasn't there, Daxtin could quite clearly see the girl that was approaching. She looked about Anya's age, with bright green eyes and a shaggy mess of black hair coming out from under her overly-large, pointy, wide-brimmed and extremely yellow hat. She was also wearing a slightly-too-big blue jacket, oversized tan gloves, one of which she held an ornamental staff in, and very short shorts. Her boots looked like she could probably fit both feet in one. The entire effect only accented how petite she was, rather than actually adding any volume to the mage's presence.

"Hey, my name's Blaisia," she greeted them, coming to a stop in front of the trio. "I'm from the Nightwatch, the protectors of Dawn City. Saw your flying junk heap come in," she noted, smirking at the captain, who made a face at her, "so I thought I'd come check it out."

"I'm Daxtin," said the boy. He indicated his companions in turn. "This is Anya, and that one's Jack."

"_Captain_ Jack," corrected the pirate, before adding. "Sparrow. Don't forget the Sparrow."

"Well then, Daxtin, Anya, _Captain_ Jack _Sparrow_," said Blaisia mockingly, "what brings you to our city?"

"We're looking for someone actually," said Daxtin.

"Oh? Well, I suppose I should bring you back to base," said the mage girl. "Fa-rin would probably know more about finding things anyway. Come on, follow me!"

Daxtin and Anya exchanged glances as Blaisia ran off down the wall, quickly disappearing down a set of stairs. Giving a shrug, Daxtin went after her, with Anya trailing behind.

"That's right, just dash right in," said Jack ruefully, watching them run off. "Hardly know someone for thirty seconds and you're running right after them. What is this, a game?"

"And quite rude of them to leave us behind," said Jack from his perch on Jack's shoulder. The miniature pirate snorted disdainfully. "Didn't even so much as look back for us and, woah!"

Jack didn't hear the rest of what Jack had to say, since he started running after the pair of teenagers, causing his miniature neurosis to lose its balance and fall somewhere behind him.

* * *

"Yo, anyone home? Helloooo?" called Blaisia as she opened the door.

The Nightwatch's base of operations was a small two-story building near the city center. The room inside, what may have once been a spacious living room area, had been transformed into a labyrinth of books, computer parts, discarded bits of armor and weaponry, upturned furniture and general refuse. It was all stacked in haphazard towers and rows, some kind of informal disorganized organization.

"Anyone? Are all you guys out? Guys?" she called again as she walked in. Daxtin and Anya, followed by a slightly winded Jack Sparrow, came in after her, walking carefully to avoid knocking over any one of the many pillars of junk.

"Back here," called a smooth, male voice.

"Coming!" chirped the mage happily.

"And try not to knock anything o-" The warning shout from the back was too late as Blaisia irreverently plowed through a stack of books and hard drives, causing an avalanche in her wake as she took the shortest route possible towards the back room.

Daxtin and Anya watched helplessly as the path she carved filled in with fallen, and in many cases, now broken items.

"Um…" said Anya, unsure of how to proceed. She was shaken out of her hesitance by a sudden crash to the right; turning, she and Daxtin saw that Jack was casually imitating Blaisia's disregard for the stacks, quickly reducing meticulous towers to tasteless heaps. "Uh, captain, umm…"

Daxtin just sighed and shook his head before grabbing Anya's hand and leading her through the maze of junk, though every now and then, he'd push through a wall of items to avoid a dead end or a switchback. When they finally reached the door and looked back, it didn't really appear that they'd done any less damage than the other two had, but at least he'd made an effort. It was the thought that counted right?

"What took you two so long?" asked Blaisia cheerfully. She was standing next to a large set of computer monitors and screens, before which sat a tan skinned man with short brown hair, wearing white slacks and a green collared shirt and oval-lens glasses that he peered over the rims of with slanted dark eyes at the pair.

"So, these are the ones from the ship that docked here?" asked the man quietly.

"Yup," nodded Blaisia. "That's Daxtin, Anya, and _Captain_ Jack _Sparrow_."

"At your service," said Jack, giving a florid bow at the mention of his name.

"Nice to meet you," said Daxtin.

"Likewise," said the man. "My name's Fa-rin. I'm the coordinator for the Nightwatch. You obviously already know Blaisia. We have other members, but they're all out right now."

"Like where?" interrupted Blaisia.

"Melka and Dani are on patrol in the Second District," replied Fa-rin, briefly checking the screens, "and Celius is over at Tyrea's place."

"This seems… familiar somehow," said Daxtin vaguely, brow furrowed in thought.

"Hmm? How so?" asked the man curiously.

"I don't know… like it's happened before," said the boy, shaking his head. "Never mind."

"No matter," said Fa-rin. "Anyway, Blaisia said you guys had something to ask?"

"Uh, yeah," said Daxtin. "We're looking for someone."

"A name would be helpful," he suggested dryly.

"Well, that's the thing," explained Anya. "We don't have a name or description. Just a title."

"The Final Keyblade Master," supplied Daxtin.

"Sounds impressive," said Blaisia.

"Keyblades, huh?" muttered Fa-rin. "We don't really deal in that sort of thing. You're better looking up Gamble; he's said to know a fair bit about keyblades." He turned to the screens, punching a few keys as he performed a search. "Looks like he's in town right now. At his usual spot."

"Who is he?" asked Daxtin.

"Not too sure," Fa-rin admitted. "He comes and goes as he pleases, waving around his keyblade at stray Heartless, but mostly he just seems to be looking for something. Like he's just waiting to meet the right person."

"Keyblade?" said Anya. "Do you think it's him?"

"Maybe," agreed Daxtin.

"Don't get your hopes up," warned Fa-rin. "There's more than one sucker who can summon a keyblade, you know?"

"There is?" said the pair in surprise.

"Of course," said Blaisia, giving them a funny look.

"It's kind of rare, but most every world's got at least one person who can," said Fa-rin. "And in a hub like Dawn City, I wouldn't be surprised to see more."

"But, I thought the keyblade was the weapon against No Heart and the Heartless, wielded by the Keyblade Master?" said a confused Daxtin.

"Oh, you mean _the_ keyblade," said Fa-rin. "Yeah, only one of those. I'll tell you straight off: if that's what you're looking for, Gamble's not the one. But he may have some info on it."

"Hmm… well, where is he?" asked Daxtin.

"Could you find him if I told you?" said Fa-rin. He shook his head at the boy's pause. "You're new here. But that's fine. I'll just have Blaisia show you."

"Come on, follow me!" said the girl, leading the way back out.

"Oh, and on the way out, try not to-" started Fa-rin, but he gave up as he heard Blaisia trampling her way back through the front room again, the noise doubling as the other three followed. "… I really should clean that up."

* * *

Dawn City was truly a beautiful place. After Hollow Bastion, Daxtin had expected the "Realm of Darkness" to contain more horrible, demonic places, but he found this place reminding him of Radiant Garden more than anything. Continually suffused with the glow of dawn, the golden sky faded to blue around the edges; to one side, he could see the moon hovering just over the edge of the wall.

There was an air of relaxed liveliness as people went about their business, no one idle, but no one rushing either.

"How much farther until we meet this Gamble fellow, eh?" asked Jack, bringing Daxtin out of his reverie. The pirate seemed completely nonplussed by the idyllic scene; if anything he'd seemed to be getting more and more irritable the longer they spent here. Daxtin couldn't exactly blame him; this didn't exactly seem like the kind of setting that suited the captain, and he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Shouldn't be long," replied Blaisia, wandering back from where she and Anya had been looking at the window display for a clothing store. "The square where he usually hangs out is just over there."

She indicated an open plaza with a large fountain with one gloved hand.

"Didn't we pass that place, like, five times already?" noted Daxtin.

"Just what have we been doing, little girl," said Jack, "if not going to the meeting place that has been indicated to me by my compatriot to have been right beside us this whole bloody time?"

"I thought to show you guys around the town first," she said with a not-quite innocent grin. She turned to Anya, then Daxtin. "It was fun, right?"

"Y-yeah," said Anya with a small smile.

"I guess so," admitted Daxtin. It _was_ a nice place after all.

"Are you all loony?" said Jack incredulously. "We're on a dire and desperate, not to mention perilous and urgent, quest to find the Final Keyblade Master and you're wasting time sight-seeing? There's something wrong with you lot."

"Oh yeah, there's something wrong with _us_," said Blasia sarcastically, leaning back and waving her hands in front of her vaguely while giving a bug-eyed stare at the captain. The impression was unmistakable, and Daxtin and Anya couldn't help smiling.

"Well, you smell funny," said Jack petulantly before making a three-quarters circle to turn towards the square.

The other three had a small laugh before following the put-out captain.

"So, do you see him here?" Daxtin asked the mage as they stood by the fountain. The girl looked about before shaking her head.

"This is his usual place," said Blasia, "but he might have wandered off while we were looking around."

"See? See?" pointed out Jack vindictively.

"Anyway, he should still be in the area," said the girl, ignoring him. "We can wait, or have a look around and hope to run into-"

"Heartless!" cried Anya.

"No, we definitely don't want to run into those little nuisances," said Jack seriously.

"No, look, Heartless!" said Daxtin, grabbing the captain by the sleeve and spinning him about. Sure enough, while they had been talking, the plaza had emptied of people and instead filled with dark, inky Heartless.

The most of them were Shadows, small, ant-like Heartless, almost comical in appearance with their round, cartoony heads, big yellow eyes and twitching antenna. Daxtin knew they were nothing to be laughed at, especially in the quantity they were appearing in now. Scattered among them were Heartless Soldiers, little tin men in clanking armor that spun about and jerked erratically. There were even a few Large Bodies, big, rotund versions of the Soldiers, towering above the rest like simpleminded behemoths.

"Bugger," was all Jack had to say. Before anyone could add to that, the Heartless attacked.

Daxtin dodged out of the way of a lunging Shadow, summoning Joiner and Divider to his hands. He lashed out with the two blades, felling the Heartless that had attacked him before spinning about and annihilating a soldier that had been sneaking up on him.

Nearby, Anya was making quick work of them with her Shadow Lance, that utter spar of darkness that spun and cut with deadly grace. Spinning about once, she swung the Shadow Lance hard, unleashing a wave of darkness that arced out and cut down a swathe of monsters.

Not one to be outdone, Blaisia was blasting the dark fiends with shots of white fire that exploded with bright flashes, leaving her enemies stunned, if not simply burnt out of existence.

"Have at you!" came the yell from Jack as he thrust and parried at the enemies, apparently enjoying himself as he fought back the swarm with his blade. There was something odd about his weapon, but before Daxtin could look closer, he was forced to pay attention to his own fight as a Large Body came charging in, thoughtlessly running over its own allies as it came at him.

Daxtin leapt out of the way, his white coat flaring out behind him as he barely avoided the barreling body. Turning about quickly, he tried to strike at the unprotected back, but too slowly; the Large Body had already turned about and his blades bounced harmlessly off its armored front. Thrown off balance by the rebound, Daxtin couldn't react as a meaty fist came swinging around, catching him in the gut and sending him flying.

He landed hard among the Heartless, swinging frantically to avoid being covered in them. Struggling to his feet, Daxtin cleared the area around him with a few spinning strikes of the aura blades. A little ways away, he could see the Large Body preparing to charge him again.

"Oh no, you don't!" yelled Daxtin, spinning his aura blades once in his hands before reversing his grip on one and slamming the two together at the hilt, joining them into a single double-bladed weapon. He threw his arm back, the aura blades following, spinning about ever faster as they hovered inches away from his palm, suspended by pure willpower. Charging forwards, he swung his arm out, flinging the blurred disc of black and white at his foe with a yell. "Whirlwind Raid!"

The spinning blades cut a path through the mass of Heartless before slamming into the Large Body, knocking it into the air. Even as Daxtin charged forwards, the twin blades continued their flight, making a long turn through the multitudes of darkness before coming back around for a second attack. As the blades slammed into the Large Body again, they broke apart into two. In that moment, Daxtin was there, crossing his arms and grabbing the two blades.

"Storm's Divide!" he shouted, uncrossing his arms in a powerful double-slash, the air around him exploding as he flew forwards and hit the ground, the Large Body disintegrating into darkness behind him. He stood up straight and smirked a little, but the expression quickly left his face as he saw the plaza was still hopelessly full of Heartless.

"There's too many!" shouted Anya, being driven back by a swarm of Shadows.

"Need a little help?" called a brash voice.

The speaker was a man standing atop the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the plaza. He was wearing a short-sleeved blue jacket over a black T-shirt along with black pants tucked into his boots. He had a cocky grin on his face and a black headband tied around his forehead, holding back strands of brown hair as the long, tail ends of the band flapped in the wind behind him. His hazel eyes glimmered brightly as he casually stepped off the roof, dropping down to the ground.

"Quite the party you have here," he said with jokingly as the Heartless began to surround this new threat. "Mind if I join in?"

The first Shadow leapt at him, and he cut it down easily as his weapon flashed to life in his hand. There was no mistaking the black and gold form: it was a keyblade. The black haft went straight from the one-sided hand guard to the trapezoid section at the end, the shape of a playing cards spade cut in it. Gold trim lined the edges of it, but what caught the eye most were the slot machine wheels set in the head of the keyblade, and the gold crank-pull sticking out of the opposite end, near the handle.

"A lot of you, aren't there?" said the man as he cut down several more Heartless. He didn't seem to be all that worried, but he was quickly being surrounded. As he dodged back from a Soldier's strike, he took a look about, seeming to notice for the first time is situation. "What a pain… guess I'll have to use that."

Bringing his keyblade before him, he held one hand reverse-grip on the handle, the other hand holding the crank next to it. He held the blade at eye level before him, displaying the white wheels set in the head.

"Let's go!" he shouted, pulling the crank hard. "Lucky Slot: Five Second Charge!"

The wheels spun about, the numbers and symbols a complete blur. However, the Heartless weren't going to wait for this to come to fruition. Several shadows lunged at the man as he stood there. Not even looking, the gambler dodged out of the way, cutting them down and slamming on the crank as he did.

_Flame._

The first wheel locked, he cut down a spinning Soldier before pulling the crank again.

_Flame._

Dodging under the blows of a Large Body, he leapt up behind it and brought his blade slamming down into its back. As he hit the ground, he raised the blade before him and pull the crank one final time.

_Heart._

"I guess this'll have to do!" he shouted, raising the keyblade high. Fire burst forth from the blade, surrounding it in flames. Giving a yell, he slammed it down into the ground, cracking the flagstones. "Chain Fire!"

Lines of flame burst from his blade, slamming into the nearby Heartless and quickly multiplying as more and more lines of flame burst from each successive Heartless and homed in on their companions. Soon, the entire square was a web of fire.

"Ignition!" he shouted, a surge of power going into his blade and through the extending lines. The noise was deafening as the Heartless exploded in gouts of flame, radiating out from him in a deadly chain reaction. Each explosion flared, then guttered out even as the next down the line started to burn. In seconds, it was over. The square was almost entirely clear of Heartless, only a few stray Heartless here and there, stumbling about in burnt confusion, most teleporting out in pools of summoned Shadow.

"That was pretty cool" said Daxtin, impressed.

"Excessive," said Jack as they all walked over. "The word you're looking for is 'excessive'."

"I was really hoping for triple flames," said the newcomer regretfully, cutting down a soldier who was too slow to retreat. "So, who are you guys, out here fighting with Heartless?"

"Why do you want to know?" said the pirate suspiciously.

"Relax, _Captain_," said Blaisia as she came up. "This is the one you're looking for."

"You're looking for me?" said the man curiously.

"Yup," she said with a smile, turning to the others. "Guys, this is Gamble. Gamble, this is Daxtin, Anya, and _Captain_ Jack _Sparrow_."

"I see," said Gamble with a grin. "Say, Jack…"

"_Captain_ Jack," corrected the pirate.

"Captain, then," agreed Gamble, humoring the man. "That's quite the blade you've got there."

Reminded of the oddity from before, Daxtin turned to get a good look at the captain's weapon for the first time. It was immediately obvious why Gamble was interested; Jack was holding a keyblade. The black iron length was wrapped in rags, an anchor for the head and a skull and crossbones at the hilt. One side of the hand guard was like the metal curve of a rapier's, but the other side was a little stranger.

"Is that…" started Anya, too horrified to finish.

"A jawbone?" said Daxtin, giving the weapon, then the man, a strange look.

"Nobody you know, I'm sure," assured the pirate, working his own mandible as he examined the item in question, running his tongue over his teeth as if he were making sure they were all still there, and not on his blade. He was.

"I told Zora I'd figure out how to get the keyblade," muttered Jack absently. "Or was it Solo? Soma?"

"Say, Captain," said Gamble, interrupting his musings. "You wouldn't care to make a wager, would you?"

"Can't, too busy," said the man dismissively. "Looking for someone."

"Oh, that's right!" remembered Daxtin. "Yeah, we came to you for help in looking for someone."

"Oh? And who might that be?" asked Gamble.

"They're looking for someone called the 'Final Keyblade Master'," explained Blaisia.

"Is that so?" murmured the rogue.

"You know something?" asked Daxtin excitedly.

"Nope, not a thing," said Gamble with a shrug. He turned his attention back to Jack. "Now about that wager…"

However, before he could get any further, he was interrupted by a shout.

"Yo, Gamble, what's up?" shouted a young boy, running up.

"Oh, not you again," moaned the man in exasperation. "I told you, go away!"

"Aw, that's so cold, man!" he whined.

"Who's this little nuisance?" asked Jack.

"Jhen, born pest and trouble-maker," grumbled Gamble.

"Am not!" said the kid. Jhen looked about fifteen, with spiky white hair that shot back and down in a sort of windswept look and a grinning, boyish young face. He wore a long sleeve black turtleneck with an open white vest over it and baggy tan pants and sneakers. Basically, just a normal kid from the looks of it.

"Come on, just take me to that Order of the Key thing you're always talking about and I'll stop bugging you!" begged Jhen.

"We don't have any place for kids there," explained Gamble. "Especially not ones like you."

"Hey!"

"I know," said Gamble, an evil grin crossing his face. "Why don't you go with these guys? They're looking for the Final Keyblade Master."

"Oh?" said Jhen, turning excitedly towards the others.

"Oh no, don't you saddle us with _that_," said Jack desperately.

"Have fun, _Captain_," laughed Gamble before making a run for it.

"That's my cue to leave too," laughed Blaisia before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Hey, come on!" shouted Daxtin.

"Ah, I didn't get to say goodbye," said Anya a little sadly.

"Don't worry; we'll track the little witch down for this one," muttered the boy darkly.

"So, you guys are looking for the Final Keyblade Master? That's _so_ cool!" said Jhen excitedly, like an overactive puppy on speed. "Can I come with you?"

"Um, well, you see… it's um, dangerous and uh…" stumbled Daxtin, "we have to do stuff like…"

"Make a run for it!" shouted Jack suddenly, grabbing the other two by their collars and taking off down the road.

"Hey, Jack, you can't just run away from the guy," said Daxtin, extricating himself from the man's grip and running on his own as he struggled to keep up with the dashing pirate.

"Sure I can," he said, letting Anya go so he wasn't just dragging her along. "Just did."

"But that's so mean," said the girl, readjusting her tie as she ran.

"Yeah, really!" said Jhen as he came out of an alleyway and ran alongside them.

"Get it away!" screeched Jack in surprise, kicking the boy in the gut and taking off down a side street, the other two in tow.

"You just kicked him!" said Anya in horror.

"He deserved it," said Jack quickly.

"Come on, please, please, please?" said Jhen, dropping down from a rooftop. "Just take me with you?"

"See what I mean?" said the pirate, knocking a pile of crates in the way of their pursuer as they ducked between a couple of market stalls.

"He's got a point," said the Nobody.

"Daxtin!" shouted Anya disapprovingly. "You could at least hear him out."

"Yeah," said Jhen, appearing at the end of the alley they were running through. "I promise I won't be any trouble!"

"You already are!" yelled Daxtin as they came to a stop.

"And besides," said Jack, "just how the bloody hell do you keep getting in front of us?"

"I know this city way better than you, _and_ I'm faster," said the boy proudly. "Top of my class at running."

"How about swimming?" said Jack, charging forwards and slamming into him, carrying the boy backwards until they hit the other side of the walkway, at which point they threw him over the railing and into the waterway.

"What if he can't swim?" demanded Anya, stunned by the man's recklessness.

"It's not that deep," said Daxtin, peering over the edge. "Come on, let's go before he comes up."

* * *

"Really, don't you think that was a little much?" said Anya quietly. They were hiding in the construction site of a section of wall that was being repaired while they planned their next move; namely, how to get back to the Nightwatch's base and pay back Blaisia for ditching them. "I mean, I guess I can't expect any better from Jack-"

"_Captain_ Jack," said the pirate absently, peering out into the streets from between two of the crates they were hiding behind. As an afterthought, he added, "Sparrow."

"-but you, Daxtin?" she continued, ignoring the captain. "I didn't think you'd be so mean."

"We can't take him along with us," said Daxtin solemnly. "We're going to be fighting Heartless and risking our lives pretty regularly. Do you really want to be responsible for some kid like him?"

"Well, no," she admitted, "but we could have explained that to him, instead of running away."

"No, we really couldn't have," disagreed Jack.

"He's right," said Daxtin. "You saw how he was with Gamble. He's not the kind of kid to listen to words. We can't afford to be babysitting him."

"I guess," said Anya, still not looking satisfied with their solution. "But still…"

"Quiet," said the pirate suddenly.  
"Hey, what do you-" she started indignantly, only to be silenced by Daxtin's fingers on her lips.

"Shhh," hissed the boy lowly. "You hear that?"

Anya quieted and tried to listen. All was silent, but then she heard it: the low, skittering noise of claws, the low swishing of gathering shadows.

"Heartless," snarled Jack.

They held still as the noises drew closer then suddenly stopped.

As one, the three of them burst out of the construction scaffolding and into the street, Heartless Shadows flying out after them. Among the regular shadows were Neo-Shadows, tall, more humanoid versions of their lowly counterparts, with jagged-toothed mouths and long, zigzagging antenna that trailed behind them.

"What say we make a run for it?" suggested Jack, eying the mass of shadows crawling out of the scaffolding.

"But then they'll start attacking other people!" protested Anya.

"Besides, it's too late," pointed out Daxtin. Sure enough, Soldiers were dropping out of bubbles of darkness into the streets, surrounding them.

"There's still one direction," said Jack. Running forwards, he grabbed a line hanging down off the scaffolding, quickly slicing through it with his keyblade. Free of its tie off, the rope pulled the pirate quickly up the wall as the iron bars it was holding up came crashing down. "See you at the top!"

"Get back here!" yelled Daxtin, but his cries fell on deaf ears. Cursing under his breath, he cut through the Heartless before him and followed the man up the scaffolding, Anya bringing up the rear.

The pair fought their way up the construction site, knocking away the Heartless that climbed up after them. As they reached the top, they found that Jack was having problems fending off the many Heartless by himself.

"What took you two so long?" he complained, dispatching another creature with his keyblade. Daxtin didn't comment, but his attention was instead caught by the only other person atop the wall: a man in a large brown trench coat, his long wavy dirty-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail that trailed down his back. He was facing away from them, looking out over the walls at the black beyond.

"Hey, mister, look out!" shouted Daxtin, seeing a number of Heartless lunging towards him. He tried to get to the man, but there was no way he could get there in time. "Watch out!"

The warning was unnecessary.

"Burn," said the man, "Flameheart."

Spinning about, brilliant burgundy flames coming from his hands, the man annihilated his attackers in a single blow. Reaching out with his burning palms, he took out another Heartless, then another and another.

"Don't worry about him," yelled Jack, "worry about yourself!"

Heeding this, Daxtin turned back to his own fight, barely blocking the attack from a fierce Neo-Shadow, parrying the blow and attacking before it could recover.

It took some time, but eventually the rampart lay cleared of Heartless, only leaving the four combatants there.

"Hey, you're pretty good," said Daxtin, walking over to the man in the coat.

"Not bad yourself, kid," he replied, brushing back a strand of wavy hair from his face. Under the coat he had on a deep crimson collared shirt and long tan pants over worn boots. He had brilliant blue eyes that stared wearily out at the world.

"My name's Daxtin," said the boy. "This is Anya, and that's Captain Jack."

"Huh. I'm…" his voice trailed off as he spotted Jack. "You!"

Hands suddenly aflame, the man lunged the surprised pirate, ready to strike him down. However, before he could even get close, Daxtin was there, aura blades out and blocking his burning strikes.

"Hey, what the heck's wrong with you?" he demanded. "Why'd you attack Sparrow?"

"That weapon…" growled the man. "That's a keyblade, isn't it?"

"What of it?" said Jack flippantly.

"I'll destroy it," he said, lunging forwards once more. His attack was once again foiled by Daxtin, who this time followed up with another blow to send him stumbling back.

"What's with you?" shouted the boy.

"Those blades… so you're also one," he said.

"I'm also what?" asked Daxtin suspiciously.

"A keyblade wielder," was the reply.

"What are you talking about?" he said, puzzled. "Joiner and Divider aren't keyblades."

"The potential's there," he said. "I'll destroy them before that happens."

"Just who are you?" asked Anya, Shadow Lance at the ready.

"My name is Maxwell," said the man, holding his burning hands out at his sides. "I'm a Locksmith."

"A Locksmith?" said Daxtin.

"I am the antithesis to your key," he said, pointing to the boy's twin blades. "It is my sworn duty to destroy all keyblades."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because they are the instruments of ruin," said Maxwell. "Where they go, danger follows. And to that end, I'll destroy every last one of them."

"Wait, you've got it wrong!" shouted Daxtin, but it was too late. The man was already lunging towards him once more. He blocked both strikes but found that, now that Maxwell was concentrated on him, the blows were bone-jarring; his arms rattled with the impact, sending tingles down his spine. He could feel the heat of the flames burning before him, feel the aura blades buckling under the pressure.

"Daxtin!"

Anya came in, lashing out with the Shadow Lance. Maxwell ducked under the cutting blow, noting casually how it cut easily through the stone edge of the rampart. Dodging under another slash, he avoided Diant's thrown blade and charged up under Anya's guard, his burning fist slamming into her stomach, hard.

"Hey now, that's just not nice," said Jack, lunging in with blade extended. With a flick of his wrist, he brought the point of his keyblade dangerously close to the man's exposed neck, forcing him to retreat.

"Anya, are you all right?" asked Daxtin, running over to the injured girl as Jack engaged Maxwell.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she coughed, sounding far from it. "But be careful… he's strong. Really strong."

"A little help would be appreciated!" shouted Jack. His clever footwork and years of combat experience gave him an edge, but the sheer burning power of Maxwell's strikes and his lightning fast reflexes were too much for the pirate to handle. Daxtin quickly came to his aid, but even with two of them, they didn't make much headway; Maxwell was clearly used to taking on multiple opponents at once, making sure to keep both of them on the same side, never letting himself get surrounded. In a surprising move, he let Jack make a glancing blow off his shoulder; in return, he delivered a powerful strike to the captain's chest before he could bring his blade back to defend, sending him flying and skidding along the stone rampart.

"Jack!" yelled Daxtin.

"Didn't he tell you? Worry about yourself," said Maxwell coldly, bringing Daxtin's attention back to the matter at hand with an explosive blow that Daxtin barely blocked, the impact sending him stumbling back. Before he could bring the aura blades up, Maxwell knocked them away with one burning hand, his other hand shooting forwards and grabbing him by the collar. Pulling Daxtin off the ground, he held his other hand back, the fires burning there brightening in intensity. "Now die."

"Hands off!"  
Out of nowhere, a white-haired blur slammed into Maxwell, a flying jump-kick to the face. The man was sent stumbling back, tripping over some broken stone work and falling to the ground. The assailant quickly resolved into a vested boy with an enthusiastic grin.

"You stay away from them," warned Jhen.

"You were lucky, kid," growled Maxwell, getting to his feet. "Don't you think otherwise."

"Oh yeah? Come get some," said the boy challengingly.

"So be it," said Maxwell. "Burn… Flameheart!"

He lunged forwards, his hand flaring brighter than every before. He brought his open palm swinging around, his fingers curled in a clawing strike.

"Jhen, look out!" shouted Anya.

"Get out of the way, you idiot!" yelled Daxtin.

"Don't worry," said the white-haired youth. In a blur, his hand shot forwards, easily catching Maxwell's burning palm. "It's under control."  
Swinging his arm, he sent Maxwell spinning, flying head over heels until he slammed into the ground. Maxwell recovered quickly, jumping away along the ground before taking the time to get up.

"I admit it, I underestimated you," he said angrily. He straightened up, bringing his hands up before him. "But I will destroy-ugh!"

He groaned in sudden pain, clutching the arm that Jhen had caught. The flames around his arms guttered and went out as his hand twitched in agony.

"Fine… you win this one," he said. "But I will be back. I'll destroy those keyblades."

Turning around, he ran and jumped over the edge of the wall, dropping off into the black. The four of them ran after him, peering over the edge, but there was no sign of him.

"A teleporter, eh?" murmured Jack mildly.

"Thanks for the help," said Daxtin.

"And, um, we're really sorry about before," apologized Anya.

"Don't sweat it," said Jhen with a grin. "I know you can't take some helpless kid with you to look for the Final Keyblade Master. But now that you've seen me in action, don't you think I could help you out?"

"Yeah," said Daxtin.

"Sure," agreed Anya.  
"Definitely not," said Jack cheerfully.

"Hey!' said the other two.

"_I'm_ captain, and I'll say we have none of that," said the man, pointing disdainfully at Jhen.

"Well, then we're not going," said Anya firmly.

"What?" sputtered Jack.

"Yeah, wait, what?" asked Daxtin.

"Luciella told you to guide us," said Anya. "And you don't seem like the type to take orders from a little girl unless there's a very good reason for it, am I right? So, I can imagine it won't end well for you if you abandoned us here, wouldn't it?"

Jack made only a small, choking noise in response.

"So, I think the decision on whether Jhen comes with us is up to us, not you, right?" she said. When Jack gave no intelligible response, she smiled. "Good."

"Ha-hah, did something change while I was asleep?" asked Daxtin. "That was pretty bold of you."

"Maybe," said Anya. "I don't really remember, same as you. I guess some things did change."

"Like that skirt?" he suggested with a smirk.

"Hey, stop that!" she said, blushing pulling the clothing in question lower over her legs. Daxtin only laughed.

"Anyway, welcome to the crew, Jhen," said Daxtin, ignoring the put-out Jack Sparrow.

"Sweet," said the kid with a smile. "Now, let's go find the Final Keyblade Master!"

"Yeah!" agreed the other two teenagers with a cheer.

"Um, by the way," said Jhen as they started walking off.

"Yeah?" said Daxtin with a smile.

"What's a 'Final Keyblade Master'?"

* * *

_Name: Anya  
Age: 17  
Role: The Scion of Darkness, formerly half of Xenthora  
Summary: A young girl, a Heartless in actuality, but with control over her nature. She is the other half of Emeline, the one who orchestrated the events of Memories of Nobody. Anya is timid and shy, but when it comes to certain things, she has a will of steel. Her control over darkness manifests in the form of the Shadow Lance, her deadly spear.  
_

_Anya's original design is based off of the Maya, from Paper Eleven (PXI), by Dan Kim. Very cool, very artsy comic. I just loved her going about with her pen and destroying stuff. Anya's shy unsureness comes from there too; her dark side is based off of Ichigo's Hollow, from Bleach. She's really a nice girl; it's too bad she forgot..._

* * *

_Whew: I wrote most of this chapter just today. I was afraid I wouldn't make the deadline this week, so I just sat down and did it. Finally, a long chapter! Well, I'm basically just doing them in world-sections, regardless of length, unless it gets really out of hand.  
Well, now the crew's grown to four; I hope you guys like Jhen. He's going to play a pretty important role in the story (eventually).  
As always, I've updated with pictures. I added pictures of Gamble, Jhen and Maxwell (sorry, the Nightwatch doesn't have art)._

_Next Chapter: Back with Skye, they come to their first world in their search for prophecies: The Bamboo Thicket._


	5. Talk of Nobody

Chapter 4: Talk of Nobody

* * *

It was surreal.

Well, the whole situation was surreal for Skye. After all, she'd just waken up from a year long nap to find her home destroyed and have the burden of "Keyblade Master" shoved upon her. Now she was travelling through "the black", beyond the mountains that encircled Little Arcadia. It had never even crossed her mind that there was anything beyond those mountains. And now she was travelling to entirely different worlds. And her travelling companions? A witch and a prince. As for their mode of transport… well, that's what was particularly surreal at the moment.

They were travelling through the vast shadows between worlds in a paper boat. Apparently, the manipulation of paper and written word was Emeline's specialty, so, simple as that, she'd conjured them a ship crafted from paper. Well, it was more of a dinghy, with just enough room for the three of them to walk about without knocking each other overboard. The design was rather whimsical, with little folded oars rowing them along and a sail that billowed in a non-existent breeze. Looking over the edge, Skye found there were even little paper waves along the side of the boat, imitating a real sea.

All of it was in complete silence, making it almost dream-like as they floated through the black. Well, except for one matter…

"I told you already, no," said Emeline irritably, waving Riku away. "You think you'd learn after a whole year of asking and getting the same answer."

"I figure you're just warming up to me, is all," said the fox-faced man teasingly. "Besides, you're curious, aren't you? I can tell."

"Not even in the slightest," she replied firmly.

"Come on, just a little peek into my future," he pleaded.

"You're just bored," said Emeline. "I won't expend my efforts on such a meaningless task."

"You just don't want to admit that you can't read my destiny," he insinuated. When there was no reply, he grinned widely. "I'm right, _ne_? You can't decipher a fate as amazing as mine, _darou_?

"Yes, you caught me," she said flatly. "My skills are simply insufficient for the task. I leave this victory to you, dear Riku."

"_Yatta,_ I knew it!" he said excitedly. "I'm too great for – hey, wait a second, you just agreed with me so I'd stop bothering you, didn't you?"

"Yes, now shut up or I'll write you out of this story completely," she growled irritably.

_Well_, reflected Skye, sighing and looking out over the edge of the boat, _at least they aren't boring. Even if it is a little…less dramatic than I imagined saving the world would be._

As she gazed out over the edge of the boat, she saw a distant speck of green coming towards them.

"Hey, you two, what's that?" she yelled back over her shoulder to her companions. The two dropped their fighting to come over and take a look.

"Swamp gas?" suggested Riku.

"It's our next destination," said Emeline, ignoring the man. "Some of the lesser writings point to the Eternal Prophecy being here."

"Where is here anyway?" asked Skye as she watched the green grow larger and larger, resolving itself into the form of a forest.

"The world itself doesn't have a proper name," replied Emeline. "But it's referred to as the Thicket."

* * *

"Well… I guess it's an appropriate name," admitted Skye, tilting her head as she examined the forest. In fact, it wasn't much of a forest at all. Forests were larger. Not to mention had trees. This mass of green was apparently entirely made up of bamboo. It was only about twenty feet high here at the edge, and surprisingly only seemed to go about a hundred feet in each direction. Not a forest, more of a…

"Thicket," repeated Riku. "_Thicket_. _Thick_et. _Thi_cket. Ticket. _Takebayashi_. Thicket."

"Yes?" asked Emeline as she scribbled irritably in her book.

"Just wondering," he said, "who came up with the word thicket? It sounds so weird if you think about it."

"Oh, I know that feeling," said Skye, cutting off Emeline's retort. "I think I found the same thing with 'rule'. Rule. Ruel. Rool."

"See? The _ojou-chan_ gets it," said the prince, smiling victoriously at Emeline.

"It's a common phenomena occurring when you repeat a word enough times," she explained. "You stop hearing it as the word as a whole and start analyzing it in pieces, something your mind usually skips doing. It feels strange because you normally don't actually consider the phonetics of the words you're saying. It's really not that amazing."

"See? There's another one: phenomena," said Riku brightly. "Phenomena. _Pheno_mena. Phe_nome_na."

"Are you listening?" she growled.

"Heheheh," giggled Skye as she watched pair. Her laugh caught their attention.

"Oh, you think it's amusing now, but just wait," said Emeline blandly. "It grows old. _Fast_."

"Now, now, do we really have time for this?" interrupted Riku. "I know how much you love to rag on me, but instead of wasting time out here, shouldn't we get looking?"

"And who was the one saying 'thicket' for five whole minutes?" she reminded him.

"Besides, this doesn't look like such a big place," said Skye, looking back to the stand of bamboo. "I mean, it's just a thicket. How long could it take?"

"Looks can be deceiving," cautioned the prince.

"Let's just get going, alright?" sighed Emeline, leading the way. With that, the trio left the edge of the darkness and walked into the Thicket.

* * *

"Admit it," said Riku with a smile.

"A-admit what?" sputtered Emeline.

"You know," he said, sidling closer. "You can't deny it."

"Shut up," she said. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh? Why so flustered then?" he noted, putting an arm around her shoulders. "_Kawaee…"_

"Get your hands off me!" she shouted, pushing him away.

"_Fufufu_… why don't you just admit it already? You know it in your heart to be true…" He smiled winsomely, brushing a finger gently across her cheek.

"Fine…" she said, blushing. "I… I…"

"Yes?"

"I have no idea where we are!" she roared angrily, turning about and socking him in the face. There was a loud cracking noise that might have been Riku's nose as he went flying off into the bushes. "And I said, keep your hands off me!"

"What? So we're lost?" said Skye.

"That's right, rub it in," fumed the older girl, stomping off in a huff.

"What's her problem?" pouted Skye, watching her go.

"Adorable, _darou_?" said Riku dreamily as he climbed back onto the path. "It really bothers her when she's not in control of the situation."

"I guess that makes sense. She usually seems to know what's going on," said Skye. "But she doesn't have to be so grouchy about it."

"Well, that's mostly my fault," laughed the prince. "Anyway, we'd better catch up."

"So, how'd we get lost in such a small thicket, anyway?" asked Skye as the two of them hurried after Emeline, who'd made quite some distance on them while they were talking. Their only saving grace was that her white dress and light hair stood out like a beacon in the deep green of the bamboo.

"Because it's magical, _usa_," said a teasing voice. A young girl came hopping out of the green and onto the path. She had short, straight black hair the came just down to her neck, and a mischievous grin on her face. Her red eyes were playful, and her outfit, a long-sleeved white _yukata_, seemed also somewhat playful; the sleeves were left long and floppy while the bottom was cut short at mid-thigh, like a mini-skirt. She was barefoot and apparently unarmed, but oddest of all were the two floppy white rabbit ears on top of her head.

"Is it really magical?" asked Skye.

"Of course not, _usa,_" said the girl with a smile. "It's a trap."

"A trap?"

"Maybe," replied the rabbit.

"Well, which one is it?" asked Skye.

"I dunno!" she said happily, hop-skipping backwards from them. Unfortunately for her, her escape was cut short by Paper Finesse, Emeline's keyblade, the point of which was pressing against her back threateningly.

"You know, good little girls shouldn't tell lies," said the prophetess ominously.

"I guess I'm not a good girl then," said the rabbit. "Would you like me to lead you to one though?"

"You'll probably just lead us into a tiger's den," Emeline predicted blandly.

"Well, then I'll just be on my way," she said, edging away. She halted immediately as she felt the keyblade poke sharply into her back.

"Oh, don't go," said Emeline darkly. "We've been lost for so long, I was starting to get hungry. Perhaps you'd like to stay for dinner?"

"Depend, what are you having?"

"I was thinking rabbit stew."

"_Wa, kowai, kowai_," murmured Riku as he walked up to the pair, grabbing each by the collar and pulling them apart. It was an act soon regretted as he got a kick to the face and keyblade to the gut from each respective girl. "Now, now, come on. Can't we be a little more civil? We only just met, yet you're already being so mean, Emeline."

"It's because this rabbit is more alike a certain fox," she hissed.  
"Whatever could you mean?" he said mildly.

"Anyway," interrupted Skye. "Let's start over." She turned to the new girl. "So, I'm Skye. Those two are Riku and Emeline."

"My name's Usawi, _usa_" said the rabbit girl with a smile.

"Probably a lie," shot Emeline.

"Of course," she agreed. "It's actually Inaba."

"Another lie. It's really both, isn't it?" said Riku with a smile.

"Oh, pretty good," said Usawi with a grin. "So what are you three doing here?"

"We're lost," said Skye.

"Yeah, I meet a lot of people like that," said Usawi. "This forest is famous for being impossible to navigate. It only looks small from the outside, but once you're in, well…"

"Yeah, we noticed," said the girl. "Anyway, we came here looking for a prophecy called, um… what was it again?"

"The Eternal Prophecy," supplied Emeline.

"Hmm? The Princess might have something like that," replied the rabbit. "They have a huge library there."

"Would you take us to her?" asked Skye.

"Nope!" said the girl with a grin, quickly skipping out of reach and disappearing into the forest. "Later!"

"Ah._ Nigeta,_" noted Riku.

"Hey, wait up!" shouted Skye. "At least show us the way out!"

"Let her go," said Emeline.

"What? How can you be so calm?" demanded the other girl.

"_Sou, sou,_ weren't you the one wanting rabbit stew just a second ago?" pointed out Riku.

"That can wait," said Emeline. "But more than that, there's no reason to worry about losing her. She's being tailed by one of my familiars."

At this, she held up a piece of paper, folded into the shape of complex paper bird.

"Oh, like a _shikigami_?" said Riku in interest.

"The concept's similar," she admitted. "Anyway, we can follow her at our leisure; I doubt she'll keep running forever. And with any luck, she might just lead us to…"

"What's up?" asked Skye as she trailed off.

"Hurry," was all Emeline said before dashing off into the forest with unexpected speed, her long, platinum blonde hair flaring out behind her as she ran.

"_Oi_, didn't you just say we could take our time?" complained Riku.

"Oh, just come on!" urged Skye, already taking off after the other girl.

"_Yare, yare_," he grumbled as he adjusted his _geta_ sandals before running off after them.

* * *

The three of them ran through the forest, thin bamboo leaves whipping at their faces as they sped past. Dodging between the tall, springy stalks of bamboo was tiring, but Emeline's pace wasn't slowing at all, and they had no choice but to keep running at full speed. And so it was that when she suddenly stopped, the two others almost ran right over her, Riku barely managing to skid to a halt and grab Skye from shooting right past.

"What? What's going on?" asked the younger girl.

"Quiet," hissed Emeline softly, motioning towards the clearing they had stopped just outside of. The other two moved to where they could see, hiding among the bamboo.

"There she is," said Skye. Sure enough, Usawi was standing in the clearing, watching cautiously as pools of black formed on the ground around her. As they looked on, the pools formed into Shadows, glowing yellow eyes intently watching the rabbit. "Are those…?"

"Heartless," Emeline confirmed.

"We have to go help her!" said Skye, remembering the scenes of her home. Before she could run to the other girl's aid though, Riku's hand clamped on the back of her sweatshirt, holding her back.

"Just watch, _ojou-chan_," he said with a knowing smile.

Giving up, Skye did as she was told, seeing that she was outnumbered on this decision.

"Oh, these again?" said Usawi, unaware of her audience as she surveyed the enemies forming before her. Giving a smirk, she waved her overly-large sleeves about in long, wheeling arcs before bringing one arm up; when she did, she was holding something she hadn't had a moment ago: a keyblade.

Looking to be made of bamboo, the blades hand guards were a complete circle; the short haft led to a series of bamboo spikes ending in angled cuts that made up the head, sticking out perpendicular like the teeth of a comb or pipes of a flute set.

Usawi easily dodged out of the way of the first lunging Shadow, not even bothering to use her keyblade as she delivered a lightning-fast roundhouse kick, destroying it instantly. She ducked under the next Heartless attack, swinging her blade in a short arc above her head as the creature went past, taking it out in one shot.

Displaying amazing agility and evasion, Usawi's quick movements were more than the clumsy little Shadows could handle. Unable to even touch her, they quickly fell to her short keyblade.

"Well, that was fun," she said as she took the last one out with a flick of her wrist; holding onto the keychain hanging from the handle, she used it as a chain weapon, the blade lashing out at the Heartless before she pulled it back. Dismissing the blade, the girl gave a shrug and turned to leave.

In her carelessness though, she failed to notice the black mist of disintegrated Shadows pooling together at the center of the clearing, forming a quickly growing ball of darkness.

A monster of shadow, huge and muscular, burst forth from the darkness. In the same way that the limber, humanoid Neo-Shadows were a step above the ant-like Shadows, this beast, thick of body with hulking arms, spikes coming from its back and forearms, was a step above the Neo-Shadows. Its clawed hands flexed menacingly as it displayed large, jagged teeth, its glowing yellow eyes a good eight feet off the ground. Giving a roar, it lunged at Usawi's unprotected back, knocking her to the ground and pinning her beneath one huge hand.

"_Now_ we help," said Riku, drawing his keyblade.

"What is that?" asked Skye, staring at the hulking monster.

"An Ultima Shadow," said Emeline, drawing her own blade. "Now hurry up and summon the keyblade!"  
Skye could only stand frozen in fear as the other two ran to Usawi's aid. What was she doing? She didn't know how to be a Keyblade Master. She didn't know how to fight monsters. This was ridiculous. They had to fight something like that? She watched as the monster shrugged off blows from Riku, how it easily deflected spikes of paper summoned by Emeline. The Ultima Shadow ducked with surprising speed under the prince's lunging strike, getting under him before sending him flying towards Emeline. Watching the two tumble to the ground in a tangled mess, it turned its attention back to the rabbit, who was still struggling to get up. A hungry gleam in its eyes, it raised a clawed hand high, preparing to end her life.

"No!"

Before she knew what she was doing, Skye felt her body moving. In an instant, she was there, the keyblade in her hand, sparks flying as the oncoming claws met her defense. Not thinking about it, she gave a powerful shove, sending the Heartless stumbling back.

"This… this is…" she said, trying to make sense of it. She didn't have time to as the Ultima Shadow struck back, barely missing as she dodged just in time.

There would be time to sort this out later. What mattered now was the battle. Giving up on understanding, Skye let herself go, submerging herself in nothing but the feel of the keyblade in her hands and the world before her eyes.

She ducked under the Heartless's next attack, twisting out of the way of its follow up, swinging past it before striking at its back. The monster flinched in pain, turning around quickly to catch her with a powerful swing of its arm. The strike was too slow, though, with Skye easily jumping back out of the way. However, before her feet touched the ground, she saw its other arm coming around, heading straight towards her. She wouldn't make it in time. Bringing up her blade to block, Skye braced for impact.

It didn't quite make it.

For a moment, the Heartless hesitated, its fist stopping inches away from her face. It was only for a second, but that was long enough for Skye to hit the ground and jump farther back.

"Take this!" she shouted, winding up before releasing the Kingdom Key, throwing it with all her might. The keyblade flew straight and true, a spinning blur as it cut through the Heartless's arms and buried itself in its chest. "Light!"

There was an explosion followed by a flash of light, and then the keyblade was flying back at her. She caught it easily, giving it a spin before bringing it back around, ready to take all comers. However, none were left; the Heartless had been defeated. Sighing in relief, she turned to her two companions with a smile.

"Hah! Did you see that?" she asked excitedly. "I did it! I beat that thing that you guys couldn't beat!"

"_Ara_?" said Riku. "What thing we couldn't beat?"

"That Heartless!" said Skye with a pout.

"Who said we couldn't beat that?" murmured Emeline with a gentle smile.

"But, but," sputtered the girl.

"We were just hoping you'd step in and get some experience," she explained.

"Pretty good show," said the other with a fox-like grin. "Though you almost ate it in that last part. Good thing Emeline gave it a good poke."

"Huh?" said Skye. Looking back towards where she'd been fighting, she saw a spike of paper sticking out of the ground. Thinking about it, it was about where the Ultima Shadow had been when it had hesitated.

"Well, not bad for you first fight," congratulated Emeline. "But don't let it go to your head."

"Y-yeah… how could I?" said Skye, ego much deflated.

"Don't look so down," said Riku cheerfully. "You did still save that little _usa-chan_."

"Oh, yeah, Usawi!" she remembered. Looking about, she spotted the rabbit leaning against a bamboo stalk, holding her side and still trying to catch her breath. Running over, she asked, "Are you all right?"

"It's… no good, _usa_" said the girl. "I'm not going to make it."

"What? Really?" said Skye worriedly.

"You shouldn't lie to such impressionable young girls, now," chided Riku. "She _did_ save you after all.

"Wait, that was a lie?" asked the Keyblade Master in shock.

"And _you_ need to be less gullible," sighed Emeline, flicking her in the forehead.

"Ow ow ow…" she said. Rubbing her forehead, she turned back to Usawi. "But you're all right?"

"Yeah," said the girl with a smile. "Thanks to you. I only got the wind knocked out of me."

"Well now," said Emeline. "Now that you're off the menu… perhaps you might take us to see that Princess of yours?"

"Hmm, I don't know, _usa_" she said playfully, ignoring Emeline's drawn weapon.

"Please?" asked Skye. "For me?"

"W-well…" said the liar, caught off guard by her straightforwardness. "Well, I guess…"

"Thank you!" said Skye, giving her a quick hug, causing the prankster to blush.

"You don't have to thank her," said Emeline irritably. "She owes us at least this much. And she's probably going to just get a running start and leave us here."

"Now, now, don't ruin the moment," said Riku, patting her on the head and earning himself a swift kick to the shins.

"Well, come on!" said Usawi, hopping away with a smile and a laugh. "Let's get going! Or I really will leave you behind!"

* * *

The bamboo forest went on endlessly, or so it seemed, with every section of it looking the same as the last, yet Usawi led them confidently, following a path that only she could see. Here and there were clearings and small streams, but nothing distinctive enough to be guided by. Truly, if Usawi abandoned them, they'd be lost forever.

"How much farther is it?" asked Emeline with uncharacteristic impatience. Her lack of control of the situation and the fact that control of the situation rested in Usawi's hands seemed to be irking her.

"Not much farther, _usa_" replied the rabbit, spinning once in place to face her while replying, then facing back to the fore. She had been like this the whole way, always skipping ahead then waiting for them to catch up.

"Can you tell if she's lying?" Emeline questioned Riku. The prince gave a shrug.

"Why would she be lying?" asked Skye, puzzled.

"For her kind, the real question is, why _wouldn't_ she be lying?" muttered Emeline. Any further speculation was cut off as Usawi called from up ahead.

"Hurry up! It's right here!" she called back, waving one floppy sleeve over her head like a flag. The trio jogged to catch up with her. "See? Look."

Spread out before them was a small valley, nestled at the bottom of which was a decadent mansion. The estate covered the entire area, its outdoor walkways surrounded by beautifully understated gardens of subtle splendor. The wooden architecture and artfully decorated paper sidings had a delicate grace to them that bespoke of modest nobility.

"Well? Come on!" said Usawi, dashing down the incline towards the mansion. The other three hurried to follow, sliding down the mossy hillside to the compound below.

A short bit of slipping and sliding later, they found themselves faced with the wall that surrounded the estate. Usawi led them a little ways down to a small side gate.

"Come on, we can go in this way," she said, fooling around with the lock. After a bit of finagling, she managed to spring it open and lead the way inside. However, the moment she walked through, she found three feet of steel katana at her throat. "Whoops."

"Didn't I tell you to use the front door, Usawi?" said a calm voice from the other side of the wall. Due to the small size of the doorway, Skye couldn't see who it was.

"Aw, but it's all the way on the other side!" she complained. It was hard to tell, given Usawi's flippant attitude if this response meant the situation wasn't serious, but after a brief pause, the sword withdrew and there was the ringing noise of it being sheathed.

"I'll make an exception," said the wielder, stepping out in front and into view, "for the sake of our visitors."

He was a tall man with slim, black eyes and long, flowing black hair. He wore a pair of oval lens glasses and the blue and white robes of an official. Despite the katana belted to his waist, his stance and appearance were that of a scholar, not a warrior.

"My name is Sanzou," said the man. "I am the administrator of this estate under the service of the Princess. I apologize for any trouble that this young girl has caused you three."

"Not at all," said Emeline politely, though behind her smile, Skye could see a nervous twitch that betrayed her true feelings about Usawi. "I am called Emeline."

"I'm Skye," volunteered the Keyblade Master.

"Riku," said the prince with a short wave.

"Emeline, Skye, Riku," repeated Sanzou, nodding to each in turn. "Welcome to the House of Eternity."

He ushered them into the beautiful gardens within the wall, leading them along a stone path to the raised walkway.

"So, might I ask for what reason you three are here?" inquired Sanzou, directing his question to Emeline.

"We actually were hoping to meet with your princess," she said simply as they walked down the hall. "We're looking for a certain document that Usawi said might be housed here."

"As the librarian, it would probably be more beneficial to ask of me," he commented, "but in the end, use of the estates facilities does require her permission. And moreover, we have so few visitors; I'm sure she is anxious to meet you."

"Does she know we're coming?" asked Skye curiously.

"I'm sure the little _usa-chan_'s already told her," said Riku. Looking around, Skye saw that Usawi had indeed disappeared. As she looked though, she spotted a head of black hair with fluffy white ears poking around one of the corners, spying on them.

"Ah, there she is!" she said, pointing towards the protruding face. The attention caused the observer to quickly withdraw back around the corner.

"Oh, no, that was someone else," corrected Sanzou congenially. "Other than a few others and I, the House of Eternity is entirely staffed by rabbits."

"Rabbits?" said Skye. She had considered Usawi to at least be a rabbit-person, and so was having problems reconciling this concept with just plain rabbits.

"A large, expendable work force and a food supply, all in one," said Emeline with a malicious grin. "How clever."

"Oh no, we don't eat rabbit here," their guide assured them. "Though rabbit stew has crossed my mind in _her_ case."

"I know exactly what you mean," said Emeline pleasantly.

"She's kind of scary sometimes, isn't she?" whispered Skye to Riku.

"Of course," he agreed. "But that's part of what's so much fun about her."

"We're here," interrupted Sanzou, coming to a halt. He opened the sliding panel doors, revealing a spacious room with bamboo matting. At the other end of the room was a raised dais, upon which were several ornate lamps and wall hangings. In the center of the dais, the princess was seated on an embroidered cushion, her legs folded demurely under her. She was wearing a glamorous blue kimono decorated with glittering threads of gold and silver that played out a cloudy night sky across her garment. Her long, flowing black hair stood in attractive contrast to her pale skin, framing her perfect features as she watched curiously as they entered.

Usawi was lying with her head in her lap, enjoying have her ears scratched.

"Inaba, are these the visitors you spoke of?" asked the princess.

"Mmhmm," said the rabbit, squirming contentedly.

"Usawi, what are you doing?" asked Sanzou irritably.

"Don't worry, San-_chan_," said the princess soothingly. "I'm enjoying it."

"Yeah, San-_chan_," echoed Usawi.

"If that is your wish," he said to the princess. To the rabbit, "You may refer to me as Sanzou."

"I may," she replied, "but I won't."

"Do you desire punishment?" asked Sanzou. "It can be arranged, you know."

"Before that, introduce our guests to me," said the princess, cutting off that line of discussion. "We get so few visitors."

"My name is Emeline," said the prophetess. "This girl is my charge, the Keyblade Master Skye. And this one is-"

"_Riku,_" said the prince smoothly, stepping forwards and taking a bow. "_Hajimemashite, Hime-sama. Yoroshiku, ne?_"

"Oh, someone who knows the old language?" said the princess, clapping delightedly. "It truly is a pleasure to meet you. Have you visited our forest before?"

"Ah, no," he said, "but I studied somewhere similar, far away from here, but much like a reflection."

"How interesting," she murmured, eyes distant in though. She blinked then, shaking her head gently as she remembered herself. "But where are my manners? My name is Kaguya. I am most pleased to meet all of you."

"As are we to meet you," said Emeline, only sparing a moment to cast a strange look Riku's way. The fox-faced man only smiled and shrugged. She turned her attention back to the princess. "We are travelers on a quest. Though it is not our end goal, what we seek now are several prophecies regarding the fate of the universe. We were hoping to look through your library for such texts, for we have been told they are quite extensive."

Skye marveled at the level of formality everyone's speech had picked up in the presence of the princess. She hoped they didn't call on her to speak.

"Is that so? It is true, our library does contain an exhaustive compilation of writings," said Kaguya. "But you must know, nothing is free. A favor for a favor."

"And what sort of favor might one such as you seek?" quipped Emeline.

"Nothing that a fabled Keyblade Master and her companions could not handle," replied the princess with a silvery laugh. "Just complete one of my five impossible requests: bring me a jeweled branch from the forest atop the mountain of Hourai. Do this, and you shall have access to the library, San-_chan_ and anything else you might require of these facilities. Simple, no?"

"I have heard of Hourai," said Emeline, "but only in legend. And even if it does exist, it is far away, and the journey perilous. I regret to say that I don't find your offer entirely gracious or inviting."

"And yet it stands," said Kaguya, a glimmer in her eyes. Behind the porcelain beauty lurked something far older, far more sinister: the soul of someone who enjoyed the struggles of others with a fleeting interest, as if watching insects toil in a jar. "You may accept or decline as you wish; I will not ask anything else of you. In either case, Inaba will show you the way out of the thicket."

With a motion of her hand, another rabbit girl, dressed the same as Usawi, came into the room, bowing before her master before receiving instructions.

"I'll be seeing you soon," said Kaguya as the rabbit ushered them out.

"Perhaps," said Emeline, pulling out her book as she walked out. Under her breath, she added, "Perhaps sooner than you think."

* * *

"So, are we going to that Hourai place to get the jeweled branch?" asked Skye as they followed their rabbit guide out of the compound.

"Of course not," said Emeline absently, busily writing in her book. "What ever gave you that silly idea?"

"So you mean we're just giving up on the library?" she asked.

"I never said any such thing," said Emeline.

"Then we're sneaking in, _ne_?" suggested Riku, causing their guide to glance back at them over her shoulder. The prince gave her a friendly wave in response.

"As if I would resort to such base actions," snorted the prophetess, clapping her book closed between both hands.

"You have in the past," he said, earning himself a none-too-gentle book to the gut.

"I have far better methods," she said. "Of course, in this case, events were already heading this way, so it's not as if much effort was required on my part."

Before Skye could ask what she meant though, a shout rang out through the bamboo thicket, causing them to turn back around.

"Skye!" shouted Usawi, running up after them. "You guys, you have to come quickly!"

"_Arere_?" murmured Riku in surprise.

"What happened?" asked Skye in concern.

"It's the Princess," she said, stopping before them, panting and out of breath. She must have run the entire way over. "These two kids attacked the House and tried to kidnap her! Sanzou's holding them off now, but I don't know for how long. You've got to come help us!"

"Of course!" said Skye. "Let's go!"

With that, she took off at a run with Usawi, both heading back for the House of Eternity along with the other rabbit. Emeline could only sigh.

"And she's wasted my opportunity to negotiate," she said disappointedly.

"You'd probably have to speak to _Hime-sama_ about that, rather than a rabbit," reminded Riku. "Anyway, we should hurry; if we're left behind, we might never make our way there or back."

"It pains me to admit it, but you're right," said Emeline, heading off after the others. "Come on."

* * *

"So dedicated," said the redhead, almost admiringly. Then she sneered, "What a pain."

"I won't… let you harm… the Princess," gasped Sanzou, his breathing ragged. Despite this and his many injuries, he held his sword before him unwavering as he faced the two intruders, standing between them and Princess Kaguya.

"I wish _I_ had a knight in shining armor," said the honey-blonde. She turned to her sister. "Sam, will _you_ be my protector, and promise of protect me with life, and love and honor me till death do us part or whatever?"

"Work on that proposal and I'll think about it, Karie," said the fighter, pushing back her hat, which was tilting forwards into her face.

"Really?" asked the excitable young girl.

"No," said her sister flatly. "Now, can you just set fire to this place already or something? Luciella never said what condition her heart had to be in."

"You sure?" said Karie doubtfully, pouting cutely. "'cause I don't think 'well done' was on the menu."

"That might not be, but you two are toast!"

At that moment, Skye came bursting in, followed by Usawi, Emeline and Riku.

_Did she really just say that?_ thought Emeline in disbelief.

"Nice one!" cheered Usawi, giving the thumbs-up to Skye, who returned it.

"Well, at least she seems to be taking to this 'hero' role well," murmured Riku mildly.

"Huh? What the heck are you four supposed to be?" growled Sam, cracking her knuckles ominously. Despite this, Skye found it hard to take the girl, four feet tall and dressed like a doll, all that seriously.

"I'm the Keyblade Master, Skye, and I'm here to stop you!" she said, doing her best dramatic pose.

"Keybrat? What a pain," muttered the fighter. "Let's just kill them and get it over with."

"But Sam, Luciella said not to touch her!" whined Karie.

"What are you, her servant?"

"So are you!"

"Don't remind me," she sighed. "Whatever, fine then, let's just get the princess and go."

"Um, Sanzou and _Hime-sama _already left," Riku pointed out helpfully. The pair of dressed up girls turned around to find he was right; they had escaped during their arguing while their attention was on Skye.

"This is such a pain!" yelled Sam, pounding a fist into a support beam. The entire room shook, but she seemed not to notice. "Let's get going."

"I won't let you take one step further," said Skye, dashing between them and the side passage that Kaguya had escaped through.

"Besides, we only just met," said Emeline, flanking the pair from the other side. "And I'd _love_ to hear about this Luciella?"

"I'll do you one better: let me punch your lights out and you'll get to _meet_ her," said Sam with a vicious grin. "Let's go!"

The girl charged towards Skye arm pulled back with hand in a fist. Skye stood her ground, keyblade held before her, ready to take the blow head on. However, at the last second before they met, Skye was pushed from the side.

"Move, you fool!" said Emeline, shoving her out of the way. She gave a grunt of pain as Sam's fist slammed into her with a loud smack, sending her flying back against the wall as the air shook with the shockwave from impact.

"Tch, only grazed her," snorted the fighter.

"What… was that?" gasped Skye, wide-eyed in shock.

"Don't underestimate them," cautioned Emeline as she got to her feet. The two stood warily before Sam, ready to move at a moment's notice.

"Good advice," agreed Sam. "But it won't be good enough! _Accelerate_!"

Meanwhile, Usawi and Riku were measuring up against Karie.

"So, do you two like having fun?" asked the honey-blonde with a giggle, sparks flying off her fingers as she waved them about.

"_Mochiron_," said Riku with a smile.

"At others' expense, that is," added Usawi, smirking.

The prince and the rabbit charged towards Karie, who jumped back out of the way of their twin strikes, retaliating with a quick fireball that sent them dodging to the sides.

"Well then, let's have fun," she said sweetly, electricity dancing from her fingertips as she readied her next spell.

While Riku and Usawi dealt with real lightning, Emeline and Skye had to contend with lightning speed. Sam was a blur that they could barely track, leaving blue-shifted afterimages in her wake as she dodged their strikes as if they were nothing.

"She's too fast!" cried Skye, her arms shaking as she barely managed to block a flurry of punches.

"Maybe," said Emeline, "but can she stop fast?"

Acting quickly, she plunged her white keyblade into the floor. Immediately, spikes of paper shot out of the ground all around them, creating a jagged forest of white.

"Oh, this again?" shouted Sam as she shot between the spikes. "That Nobody already tried this on me!"

"Nobody?" said Emeline curiously as she watched her land.

"Yeah, but did that Nobody follow up like this?" yelled Skye. "Air Cutter!"

Giving a slash of her blade, a cutting arc of wind shot off, slicing through the paper spikes and slamming into Sam, sending her flying back towards the center of the room. At the same time, Riku sent Karie flying towards them, the two sisters passing in mid-air.

"Skye!" shouted Usawi, charging after the sorceress.

"Right!" said the Keyblade Master, also charging in. Her mind couldn't keep up, but in her heart, she felt a connection that bridged the gap between the two of them and knew exactly what to do.

The pair threw their keyblades towards each other, the twin weapons slamming into their two enemies before flying on to the other. Each grabbed the other's keyblade, giving a twist and sending them flying in wide arc, forming a circle around the room as flew.

Skye and Usawi ran past each other, both jumping in perfect synchronization and landing a flying kick into Sam and Karie respectively, both sending each girl stumbling into the path of the rapidly circling keyblades.

"Lucky Strike!" they both shouted as the circle exploded in flashes of gold and green and they flew back towards each other in the center. Turning quickly, they met, feet to feet, before pushing off each other and calling their keyblades to them.

"Forty Leaf-" shouted Usawi, grabbing her bamboo blade as the Keyblade Master did the same.

"-Clover!" finished Skye, cutting through Sam in an instant as the rabbit mirrored her on the opposite side. There was a flash of light, and then it was over.

"We got them!" laughed Usawi loudly.

"Yeah!" cheered Skye.

"Not quite," came the low growl.

The defeated figures behind them faded to black, then disappeared as Sam and Karie reappeared at the doorway.

"You'll have to do better than that," said Sam.

"Yeah, ten times better!" jeered Karie.

"Like this much better?"

Sam flinched as she felt cold silver hovering a hairsbreadth from her neck, the length of Emeline's Paper Finesse to her throat. Karie found herself similarly transfixed by Riku's key.

"Now, tell us: just who are you people?" asked Emeline coldly.

"Like we'd tell a hag like you," sneered Sam as she and Karie disappeared in a swirl of darkness.

"Hag?" repeated Emeline irritably.

"Now, now, you don't look _quite_ that old," said Riku while he was still vertical. Then, from underneath Emeline's heel, he added, "Though with how you act, I see where they got the idea."

"I wonder who those two were," muttered the prophetess, ignoring the crunching noises as she ground her foot. Shrugging, she turned her attention to the rest of the group. "Well, that aside, is everyone okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Skye and Usawi obediently, chilled to the bone by the sweet smile she was presenting them as she casually mutilated Riku's face under her sandal.

"Well now, let's go see if that princess has had a change of heart," she said calmly, leading the way out. "Hurry up now."

"But…" said Skye, looking back towards Riku, who was still lying on the floor.

"Don't worry; I probably hurt the floor more than him," she said, a tinge of annoyance on her voice. "If he was that easy to kill, I would have been long rid of him by now."

"The kind of guy who won't die even if you kill him, huh?" supplied Usawi cheerfully.

"It would seem so," said Emeline.

Skye considered helping Riku up, but considering the mood Emeline was in, decided she should just hurry up and follow.

_I'm… not really the leader here, am I?_ she sighed to herself.

* * *

They appeared in the darkness, amidst the vast stands of bamboo outside the House of Eternity.

"Come on, let's go."

"But what about the princess?" said Karie.

"You still want to fight after making _two_ jumps?" pointed out Sam. "We're on too short a leash to use much more power. There's no point in staying any longer."

"But won't Luciella be mad?" asked the younger sister worriedly.

"Oh, I think I have something else she might want," said Sam with a grin.

"What's that?" asked the honey-blonde curiously.

"Information," she replied. "I think she'd be very interested to hear what the Keyblade Master's up to and who her companions are."

"Hmm, maybe," said Karie, not convinced.

"Well, do you have a better idea?" challenged Sam. "That's what I thought. Now, come on."

* * *

"I thank you for saving the Princess's life," said Sanzou, bowing deeply before them. "Your valor and bravery will not be forgotten."

"But will it go unrewarded?" wondered Emeline boldly.

"Ah, to the heart of the matter," said Kaguya from where she sat. They had relocated to a new, only slightly less decorated audience chamber, seeing as how the first one was in shambles from the fighting. "You wish to use my library?"

"Of course, Lady Kaguya," said Emeline.

"Did you bring the jeweled branch of Hourai?" asked the princess.

"Of course not, Lady Kaguya," said Emeline, expression unchanging.

"I see," said Kaguya. She sighed, eyes downcast in thought. After a moment, she brought her gaze up over the fan she held and to Emeline's. "Then we have no more to discuss."

Standing, she turned from them walked to the doorway in the back, the kimono hiding her feet and giving the illusion that she glided across the ground, as if she were above mere mortals who trod the earth.

"San-_chan_, attend to me," she commanded before stepping through. The scholar-warrior quickly got to his feet, making a hasty bow to Skye and the group before quickly following his mistress. The sliding door closed behind him, and then they were gone.

"Wait… what just happened?" said Skye in confusion. She turned to the others. "Didn't we save her life? Doesn't she owe us? Can't we just _look_ at the library?"

"I guess not," murmured Riku.

"Oh, you two," said Emeline indulgently.

"You two," repeated Usawi with a laugh. "_Usa sa sa sa"_

"What? Don't you think it's unfair?" demanded Skye.

"Come on, let's just go," said Emeline, getting to her feet, Usawi prancing about beside her. The other two shared a puzzled look before following.

They walked down a set of corridors, Usawi leading the way, with Emeline calmly striding on as Riku and Skye followed, the former trusting, the latter frustrated.

"Here we are, _usa_" said Usawi, coming to halt before a large pair of doors, shackled together with a heavy chain sporting an ancient-looking lock.

"This is…" wondered Skye.

"The library," finished Sanzou, coming from around the side and striding forwards. He took a stance solidly before the doors, barring their way. "And what business do you have here?"

"We're here to use the facilities, of course," said Emeline. Producing a key from seemingly nowhere, she handed it over to Usawi, who ran over to Sanzou and handed it to him. The man inspected it before turning and inserting it into the lock. He gave the key a twist and was rewarded with a long grind followed by a loud click.

"Of course," he said, opening the doors then stepping aside. "Anyone with the royal key is welcome here."

Even as he said this, he pocketed the key before turning and striding off, disappearing around the corner once more.

"Ah, so _that's_ how it is," murmured Riku with a smile.

"What… just happened?" asked Skye, clearly puzzled. She suppose they could have stolen the key, but what was the reason for Sanzou's reaction?

"Hurry up, or we'll leave you outside," called Emeline as she walked in.

"Ah, coming!" said Skye, dashing after the other three.

* * *

"Wait, so does anyone want to explain to me what happened out there?" asked Skye as they pulled down another set of books and scrolls, letting them flop heavily onto the table. She coughed fitfully at the cloud of dust that rose from the volumes.

"_Usa sa sa_, it's just how the Princess is," said Usawi with a smile, kicking back and leaning her feet on the pile Skye had just brought down.

"She couldn't be seen gracing commoners like us with what we wish, despite not fulfilling her own wishes," said Emeline as she scanned through the pages of a large tome. "What would the world think of such a pushover then? But of course, it would be heartless not to reward us."

"But how'd you get the key?" she asked.

"While you were too busy being upset," said Emeline, looking over and giving a kick to Riku, who had fallen asleep, "and _you_ were too busy ogling, you failed to notice the wonderful gift she 'accidentally' left on her seat when she left. Really, Riku," she said, giving the man a patronizing look, "if you can't notice the subtleties, you'll never make a good king."

"_Sou, ne._ Why do you think I left in the first place?" he said easily.

"Hey, hey, I think I found it!" said Skye excitedly.

"Really?" murmured Emeline in mild surprise.

"The Eternal Prophecy, right?" asked the girl.

"That's the one," confirmed Emeline. "Let me see."

Skye gladly handed over the musty old grimoire she'd been flipping through. Emeline settled it in her lap as the other three looked over her shoulder. She read aloud:

"_He is the Nobody who is not nobody, nor a Nobody.  
A pawn who became much more.  
Beloved of the Princess, he shall be the Queen's right hand.__  
He shall stand before the final darkness;  
Without him, all light is lost.  
The one who shall heal the fractured hero  
Joiner between light and dark, heaven and earth,  
The Master of Nothing."_

"Okay, we have it!" said Skye excitedly. Her excitement quickly dimmed though. "But… what does it mean?"

* * *

He watched. Slowly.

He was in no hurry.  
He observed how they hastily scribbled down the prophecy, moving with such _urgency_ to record it, to be done, to be moving on.  
"What a waste," he drawled, to no one in particular. "What. A. Waste."

He took in a deep breath, then let it out in a long, tired sigh. Slowly, of course.

Cracking his neck lazily, he turned his attention back to them. His eyes fell on the young one, the blonde in the blue sweatshirt.

"So… that's her, huh?" he murmured. "Well, I suppose I should tell _him_."

He gave a yawn before settling back, pulling out a small book. Flipping to the bookmark, he began to read.

"Eventually," he added. And why not?

He was in no hurry.

* * *

_Riku Translations:_

_ne?: _right?  
_Yatta!:_ All right!  
_takebayashi:_ bamboo grove  
_Ojou-chan_: Young lady (diminutive)  
_Kawaee_: cute (from _kawaii,_ using more masculine speech-style)  
_Fufufu_: mischievous laughter  
_darou?_: right?  
_usa__: _(rabbit noise)(sort of)(_usagi_ mean "rabbit")  
_Wa, kowai, kowai_: Woah, scary, scary (sarcastic)  
_Nigeta_: She ran away.  
_Sou, sou_: Right, right  
_Shikigami_: Summoned mystical servant, often depicted as created from sheets of paper.  
_Oi_: Hey  
_Yare, yare_: Oh, jeez…  
_Ara?_: Hmm?_  
Usa-chan_: Bunny-_chan  
Hajimemashite, Hime-sama. Yoroshiku, ne?_: Nice to meet you, Princess. I am in your care, mmkay?  
_Arere?_: Huhuh?  
_Hime-sama_: Princess  
_Mochiron_: Of course.  
_Sou, ne_: That's right, isn't it?

* * *

_Name: Emeline  
Age: 17  
Role: The Prophetess, formerly half of Xenthora  
Summary: A nobody with power of paper and destiny. She uses her book to "write the story". Her fate manipulation is, of course, not absolute. A master of control and strategy, she planned all of the events of Memories of Nobody up until the end. Truly, someone to be feared.  
_

_Emeline's based on the White Haired Girl from Paper Eleven. Her relation to Anya's the same, as is her tendency to refer to things as a story and writing a better ending. So she's always had a musing, playful side to her nature. She can actually be quite nice to people she's fond of, such as Anya or Daxtin. Despite being a young girl, she's one of the more mature characters._

* * *

_Late: This chapter is late. These updates aren't symmetrical at all! This would drive Death the Kid insane! Wait, can something periodical even _have_ bilateral symmetry? Maybe it's doomed to annoy Kid no matter what.  
Well, my excuse is that my prime writing time, the weekend, got eaten up by tournaments and visiting friends' houses and watching the entire GARlock arc in one sitting, and that this chapter was REALLY long (but a lot of fun), but that doesn't change the fact I'm behind schedule now. Oh, and fanime's coming up in a couple weeks. Any of you going?_

Next Chapter: Daxtin searches for the Keyblade Master, but instead finds only enemies. Oh, and crazy people. More importantly: Maxwell.


	6. One of Seven

Chapter 5: One of Seven

* * *

Maxwell trod through the dark, lamp-lit streets, unheeding of the rain that pounded on his back in a steady, weary patter. His arm ached where that kid had twisted it, but it was getting better. Pain never lasted long. The physical kind didn't at least.

Sighing, he opened the door to the bar where they had agreed to meet. It was empty of patrons, but what did he expect from a city full of nothing but darkness? Well, there _was_ one person. The one he'd come to meet.

"Yo," hailed the man, waving a hand at Maxwell. "Where you been?"

"Just checking out that last lead you gave me," he said, shaking the rainwater off his jacket and out of his hair as he walked over.

"Another day, another keyblade broken, eh?" said the man with a vicious grin.

"Not quite," admitted Maxwell, grinding his teeth in frustration as he took a seat across from the other. He helped himself to a glass of the wine sitting there.

"Hey," said the other man, suddenly reaching out and grabbing his hand.

"What? Can't you share?" joked Maxwell wearily.

"Just who do you think I _am_, huh?" asked the other, murder in his eye. His other eye was covered by a black patch. Maxwell met his gaze for a moment, before snorting and breaking it off.

"Fine, whatever," he said, letting go of the glass. "I'm too tired to deal with this."

"Getting back to business," said the other man, pulling the wine and glasses possessively to his side of the table, "you said 'not quite'. What do you mean?"

"It means I had a little trouble with the last mark, okay?" growled Maxwell.

"What, with that little punk? I know he's the Nobody with a Heart, but come on, he doesn't even have one yet," said the other. "And don't tell me that drunkard in the hat gave you problems."

"Nah, it was an outsider," said Maxwell. "Some punk kid with white hair. Incredible aura. Name was Jhen, or something."

"White-haired punk, huh?" murmured the one-eyed man.

"What, you know something?" asked Maxwell anxiously.

"Hmm? Nah, I got nothing," he said with a shrug. "Anyway, let's get moving. You can fill me in on the details as we go. I'd love to have the intel."

"Oh? We headed somewhere?" asked Maxwell.

"Yeah," he said with a grin. "Gonna go pay the Captain a visit."

* * *

"What a dump," grumbled Jhen, peering out across the bow at the rocky landscape spreading before them.

"Yes, I really wish we hadn't had to come here either," said Jack with mild disdain. "Not a drop of water or drink. Probably not even a proper bar."

"I was talking about the ship," said the boy with a grin.

"Mister Sparrow? Keelhaul this traitorous wretch," growled the captain. However, before Jack's aura of command aboard the ship could be tested against something that was not actually the ship itself, the two were interrupted by the other pair.

"Hey, Captain, what is this place?" asked Daxtin as he walked up from below decks, Anya following behind, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. The two had slept for most of the journey from Dawn City.

"Meikai," responded Jack, completely forgetting his previous orders. "Otherwise known as the Underworld."

"You mean, the land of the dead?" asked Anya warily.

"Something to that effect or another," agreed the captain. "Though search me if I know what world it's connected to."

"Don't people, y'know, die if they go into a world of the dead?" asked Daxtin.

"Guess not," said Jack with a shrug. "Apparently it's very tourist-friendly. People make holy pilgrimages or something to visit some sacred family or something."

"Let's check that place out then!" said Jhen enthusiastically. "It's gotta be real busy, and I'm sure _someone_ there knows about the Final Keyblade Master whatever thing!"

"It's in the land of the dead; how busy could it be?" said Daxtin doubtfully.

"Well, esteemed and gracious leader, if you have much more brillianter idea, I am _dying_ to hear it," said Jack, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Why did we come to a place like this to begin with?" asked Anya as Daxtin fell into silence.

"I heard hearsay saying that here, that being here, Meikai, was having, er, rather, has a keybrat. I mean, keyblade warrior person," the pirate elaborated. For good measure, he added, "Type-thing."

"That's… great," said Daxtin. "Sounds very reliable."

"I've heard a similar rumor," piped up Jhen. "I was actually thinking of checking this place out if I ever gave up on Gamble, before you guys showed up anyway."

"Well, we're here, so we might as well check it out, right?" said Anya brightly. She flashed Daxtin a cheerful smile.

"Fine," he said, finally caving. "Let's just check out this family or whatever and see if they know anything. If not, _I'm_ choosing the next destination."

"You have yourself a deal," said the captain with a grin. "Now, let's move out!"

* * *

"So, you really think this is it?" asked Jack, eying the mansion before them suspiciously. The enormous building was a study in classical architecture, all curves and arches, pillars and flying buttresses. There was also a certain skull motif to it that was impossible to overlook, given that they decorated nearly every corner and knob. To some small relief, they noted that these were only carvings and not, in fact, real skulls. It was still intimidating.

"Have you seen any other buildings, well, _anywhere_?" challenged Jhen. "We just walked, like, fifteen miles of deserted wasteland covered in dying trees and rivers of fire and we haven't seen a _single_ person."

"Like I said, it's the land of the dead, isn't it?" said Daxtin with a sigh. "Let's just go in."

"But it could be _anything_ in there," warned Jack, eyes darting about wildly.

"You got a _brillianter_ idea?" asked the boy, throwing the captain's previous comment back in his face.

Jack's mustache twitched. Nervously.

"That's about what I thought," said Daxtin, shaking his head and pushing the doors open.

Inside was an opulent study of black and white, with checkered tiles and marble balustrades lining the curving staircases leading to the upper level. Suits of armor and coats of arms decorated the walls. Other ornamentations included vases on pedestals and sculptures on display.

"Wow, pretty upscale," said Jhen. Jack just gave a low whistle.

"Hello?" called Daxtin, his voice echoing about the massive inside. "Anyone home?"

"They're all out?" murmured Anya, looking about.

"Seems like," he replied. "So what now?"

"I say we loot it and run," suggested the pirate.

"No," said the other three simultaneously.

"But still," moaned Jhen. "What _are_ we supposed to do?"

"I suppose we just wait for whoever lives here to get back," replied Daxtin. "Who does live here, anyway?"

"Didn't you say they were some kind of sacred family, Jack?" asked Anya.

"Or so I heard. I'm not too clear on the details; I recall being happily drunk at the time," said the pirate fondly.

"You really trusted this shmuck to gather intel for you?" asked Jhen, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Believe me, it's a mistake I don't intend to repeat," said Daxtin. He sighed. "Well, I suppose it can't hurt to look around. Maybe someone's here, but didn't hear us come in? It seems like a pretty big place."

"Where do we start?" said the white-haired youth.

"Let's just check these rooms first, then go upstairs," suggested the other boy. "And stay together; I don't want us getting separated in a place we don't know. Doubly for you, Captain."

"Don't you trust me?" asked Jack innocently.

Daxtin gave him a look that spoke volumes on the matter.

"Fine," replied the pirate childishly. "Be that way."

"Well, come on," said Jhen, already prying open one of the doors. "Let's get going already."

Daxtin sighed. This was going to be trouble, he could tell.

* * *

Their explorations on the first floor had taken them through several parlors, an ornate dining room, a private study and a couple bedrooms, all empty, though with indication of recent use. All had presented problems in keeping Jack from loading his pockets with valuables or keeping Jhen from just indiscriminately tearing things apart in curiosity as he looked around. They had since moved on to the second floor, with much the same results.

"Maybe you two should just go wait on the ship?" suggested Daxtin wearily as they looked around the library.

"What are you, my mother?" asked Jhen, tossing books over his shoulder at random as he dug around the shelves. Anya was all in a fluster trying to pick up the mess he was making.

"Seriously, stop that," said Daxtin. "We're looking for people here, so you can't even pretend that you're helping by doing that."

"But I'm _bored_," he complained. "Besides, shouldn't be more worrying about _that_ guy?"

"Speaking of which, where is Jack?" asked Anya, looking around. Much to Daxtin's distress, the man was nowhere in sight.

"Ugh, let's just find him quick," said Daxtin. Something in his mind told him it was already too late though.

* * *

This place was a gold mine. Everywhere he looked, silver, vases, artworks, cutlery, gems and other assorted valuables. All worth a pretty penny, and none of it guarded. It was a looter's heaven.

"What a fine looking piece of work this is," said Jack, holding up a priceless urn to get a better look.

"And what a fine piece of work _you_ are," added a different Jack, admiring his reflection in the polished silver of a fine platter.

"I don't think this will fit in the coat, boys," mumbled Jack the Third, attempting to stuff the painting into his clothes regardless.

"Leave it; take the metals," said Helmsman Jack, filling his pockets with silverware. "They're worth more per cubic foot."

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the ship?" inquired Captain Jack. Any further questions were halted by an imperious voice interrupting.

"Halt, thief!"

"And who the heck are you supposed to be?" asked Jack, spinning about, holding a fork before him threateningly. Standing in the doorway, unfazed by the pirate's fearsome utensil-wielding, was a tall and impossibly thin man in a white lab coat with spiky black hair that swept to one side and thin, professional-looking glasses. He had a number of scalpels in his hands and a slightly crazed look in his eyes.

"You barge in to my home uninvited," stated the man grandiosely, "invade my privacy, defile my property, and ignore my presence, even go so far as to indulge your base nature in material possessions not of your belonging, and you have the _gall_ to demand who I am so rudely? Unforgivable. _Unforgivable!_"

"I didn't understand half of that, but I don't suppose it means you're very happy about this, are you?" suggested Jack.

The man's reply was sharp and pointed. Scalpels tended to be that way.

* * *

"How far could he have gotten?" wondered Anya as they walked down the hallways. Their search of the west wing had been unfruitful and they were now approaching the entry hall once more.

"Does anyone remember at what point he even got away?" asked Daxtin. He sighed and shook his head. "He could be _anywhere_."

"I don't think you have to worry though," said Jhen.

"Why do you say that?" asked the other boy.

"Just a hunch," said the kid, pointing down across the way. As he did, one of the doors down that way exploded off its hinges. Jack came flying out of the chaos, slamming into the opposite wall, but quickly recovering. The pirate scrambled out of the way and started running towards them.

"Jack, what's going on?" demanded Daxtin, Joiner and Divider appearing in his hands.

"Run now, talk later!" said the pirate. As he did, a tall, thin man in a lab coat came running out of the ruckus.

"Halt, thief!" he yelled, throwing several scalpels after the pirate. Though none hit their mark, several left holes in Jack's coat. One even pierced a pocket, causing a flood of silverware to cascade from the fleeing bandit's clothing.

"Should we help him?" asked Anya timidly as the chaos approached them.

"The other guy, maybe," said Jhen.

"I guess we should try to clear this up; it's pretty obvious who's in the wrong," agreed Daxtin.

"Mutinous wretches, all of you!" said the Captain, changing course to avoid them. However, he had already reached the center of the hall, with both stairways cut off by Daxtin's group and the man in the lab coat. This didn't seem to deter the man at all though, as he ran for the balcony and, making a prodigious leap, landed on the chandelier than lit the hallway. He laughed maniacally, brandishing a stolen steak knife at them as he swung back and forth in the air. "Today is the day you shall always remember as the day you _almost_ caught Captain Jack-"

However, before he could finish his speech, a particularly jerky swing of the chandelier sent the knife flying from his hand and through the air until it lodged itself in the wall, neatly severing the rope that held the chandelier aloft. Its anchorage cut, the chandelier fell immediately earthward, taking its hapless captain with it as it crashed into the ground. Ever the acrobat though, Jack rolled safely from the wreckage, and started making for the doors.

"Does he plan this?" asked Jhen incredulously.

"Maybe, but he didn't plan for _this_," said Daxtin, aiming his aura blade towards the fleeing rogue. "Joiner!"

A beam of light shot from the end of his blade, striking the heel of Jack's boot just as it hit the floor. With Jack's next step, he found his foot bound to the tile, forcing him to stop. His momentum had other ideas about the matter, sending him flying free of his boot and straight into the doors with a crash before slumping to the floor.  
"And so falls the great Captain Jack Sparrow," said Jhen mockingly.

"Let's just clean this up," sighed Daxtin, leading them down the stairs.

* * *

"I'm sorry you have to see my house in such a sorry state of affairs," said the man in the lab coat as he tied Jack up. "Truly, I apologize. If I had known we were having guests, I would have made sure to clean house thoroughly before hand."

"Um, actually…" said started Anya, not exactly sure if she should intervene in the confinement of the captain. Daxtin only shook his head; it had been so much easier before. Anya was still the same, but instead of Jack and Jhen, there'd been Kairi, who he preferred for a variety of reason, the most relevant at the moment being that she was neither a trouble-maker nor an idiot.

"But where are my manners?" continued the man, finishing the last knot and pulling it tight with unnecessary force, causing Jack to grunt in pain. "I haven't introduced myself: I am October, of the House of Death, one of twelve siblings that are live in the mansion and rule the Meikai. As third eldest, I welcome you."

"You wouldn't happen to have an older brother named December, would you?" asked Jhen flippantly, taking a seat atop the gagged and bound pirate, who could do very little in the way of protest other than the glare scathingly at the boy.

"Actually, his name is Dec," said October simply. "Why do you ask? Do you have some business with him?"

"No particular reason," said the boy with a shrug before tumbling over as Jack managed to roll out from under him.

"Anyway, I'll give you a full tour of the mansion once I've finished disposing of this trash," continued October with a charming smile, putting a none-too-gentle foot atop the prisoner before he could roll away. "Go ahead and wait in the parlor over there."

"Actually," intervened Daxtin, feeling it was time to step in before things got too far, "he's with us."

"Oh? And what would children such as you be doing with such a scoundrel, rogue, thief and blackguard?" asked the man with a smile. Despite the pleasant façade, there was a certain aura about him that chilled them to the bone as he asked this.

"Well, we're on a quest and he's our guide, I guess," said Daxtin cautiously. "My name's Daxtin, and this is Anya. That's Jhen. And the one under your foot is Jack. Sorry about any trouble he caused."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all," said October with a shrug. Despite this, they noted a number of scalpels in his hands that hadn't been there before, and he was twiddling them about restlessly in way that made the trussed-up pirate squirm mightily, though to no avail.

"Um, by the way, October," said Anya timidly, trying to diffuse the situation. "What exactly do _you_ do?"

"Me?" murmured the man absently, freezing in his fidgeting. He didn't seem to notice as a scalpel fell from his fingers, landing point first. The silver instrument let out a ringing tone as it stuck, quivering in the floor less than an inch from Jack's terrified expression. "Hmm… well, to put it simply, I'm a doctor." He turned from his musings back to the group, flashing them a manic grin. "I just _love_ helping people."

"O-of course you do," said Anya with an uneasy smile.

"Anyway, just what is this place?" interrupted Daxtin, stepping in before Anya passed out in fear. "I heard it was a pilgrimage sight to see a sacred family or something. I mean, I suppose that's you. Are you all famous doctors or something?"

"Oh, of course not!" said October grandly. "I'm the only doctor in the family. Though Nova's a scientist, and her biology work sometimes crosses into that realm. But mostly our family is known because we rule this land, this Underworld, this Meikai. As such, we hold a certain prestige and power, even if we all specialize in different areas. Besides our extraordinary expertise, we posses a number of facilities and resources available no where else; if anything has happened in Meikai, we know it."

"Well, then I suppose we've come to the right place then," said Daxtin with relief, glad that after all the trouble they'd gone through, they were finally getting around to what they'd come for. "You see, we're looking for someone, a Keyblade Master. Do you know of anyone like that that's come here?"

"A keyblade?" murmured October thoughtfully. He shook his head. "No, not really. Well, there's this brat that's been showing up lately, but I'd hardly call him a _master_."

"Well, we can't be sure it's not him," said Daxtin. "Do you know if we can meet him?"

"He shows up pretty sporadically," he admitted. "So, no. However, I think one of my sisters could check if he's the one," he muttered. "Perhaps Jan? No, I think she's down for her nap right now. Aggie? Well, she specializes more in material items… I guess there's no choice but to ask _her_."

"Ask who?" said Anya curiously.

"Septerra," spat October, as if it were a curse.

"Sibling rivalry?" supposed Jhen.

"More like a cold war," hissed the man. "Anyway, follow me. Let's just get this over with."

He headed up the stairs, the other three in tow. No one seemed to notice anything odd with the situation other than the oddity itself.

"Mmph? Mmph mmph?" called Jack, wriggling around on the floor of the entry hall.

* * *

"And for what reason does my esteemed and honorable elder brother have for intruding upon my territory, I wonder?"

The young woman sitting in the chair reading was like a princess, dressed in a frilly, somewhat archaic-styled lavender dress, her hair long a flowing, with a number of pale violet rose blooms woven in, along with one at each temple, from which a thin braid of hair went back, forming a pseudo-crown. Her delicate fingers lightly caressed the pages of the book as she turned them, her golden eyes scanning down the lines at a swift rate. Other than her words, she had given no other indication that she had noticed their entrance, or even their existence.

"Could it be," she continued, "that he has come to continue our war?" At this, a number of roses appeared in the air around her, looking beautiful, but undeniably dangerous with their thorns and burning aura. "Or has he come to surrender?" she supposed, as the flowers disappeared. "Or perhaps, most likely, most unfortunate, and most amusing of all, he has finally snapped, his wits fled, his brains bled, his mind adrift in the sea of oblivion and so now he comes not knowing what he does nor what he intends, as the idiot he is, always will be, and ever has been." She sighed, and closed her book, then looked over at the group standing in the doorway, making eye contact for the first time. "Of course, if this is so, then it's truly a moot point to be asking you such questions, is it not?"

"And now you surely understand the depth and origin of my hatred," October commented to his guests. Then in a louder voice, to his sister, "Ah, Septerra, your tongue is ever sharp as your personality is intolerable. But for now, let's set these amusements aside: we have guests!"

"So introduce us, you knave," she commanded imperiously.

"Septerra, these are Daxtin, Anya and Jhen, by name," he said with a pleasant smile, indicating the trio, who he then turned to. "Daxtin, Anya, Jhen, this is the queen bitch of hell, Septerra."

He didn't seem to notice the thorny stem of rose that suddenly impaled him, despite the blood spray that hit the horrified teenagers and the new violet bloom that appeared to have sprouted from his shoulder.

"Now that the formalities are aside," he said, with no heed for the new addition to his right side, "let's get down to business."

"Yes, let's," agreed Septerra, twiddling a rose in a surprisingly threatening manner.

"We're looking for the Keyblade Master," said Daxtin nervously. He decided if that they weren't going to bring the war going on before them into the conversation, he wasn't going to either.

"Do you recall that Kael lad?" said October, absent tossing away two bloody sections of rose stem, then subtly flinging the dirtied scalpel at his sister.

"That one that keeps saying something about us being the devil's family or some such nonsense?" she said, casually catching the knife with the cover of her book.

"Yes, yes, exactly the one!" said the doctor, absently dodging another rose as he sewed up the open wound in his shoulder without so much as flinching. "The one with the keyblade. We were wondering if you could see if _he_ was the so-called Keyblade Master."

"I suppose," murmured the girl, barely even looking as she caught the flying needle between her index and middle fingers. A soft, glowing light appeared between her hands in her lap, swirling slowly in a mist-like form before widening into a pool of light, feathered with petals around the edge. A number of incomprehensible symbols and images flashed across the surface of it before it collapsed back in on itself. She sighed. "It's not him."

"Well, there you go," said October, turning to the trio of teenagers. To his surprise, he found them standing a few yards away, at the other end of the parlor. "What are you doing over there?"

"Your conversation was very _involved_ so…" said Daxtin.

"It seemed safer not to intrude?" finished Anya weakly.

"I'd say we were afraid of taking friendly fire," said Jhen bluntly, "but no matter how you look at it, it's not particularly friendly."

"I do have some good news," said Septerra, ignoring their comments. "There's been a recent stir in the cosmos, a force that might just be what you're looking for."

"Oh? And where can we find it?" asked Daxtin excitedly.

"It's on the move," she said, "but it did stop at a nearby world recently."

"What world?" asked Jhen.

"There's no name for it," said Septerra, "but most just call it the Thicket."

* * *

"Brggh brggh brggh."

"I don't get it."

"Same here."

"Can't understand a bloody word he's saying. How 'bout you?"

"Nope. Haven't the foggiest."

"Brggh brggh brggh."

"Speak up, captain."

"E_nun_ciate. Cl_ear_ly."

"Braggal braggal braggal?"

"Maybe it's a code."

"Brggh brggh brggh."

"Or a new language.

"Captain: if it's a code, blink once. If it's a new language, blink twice."

"Brggh brggh brggh!"

"I'm sorry, Captain, but 'crazed, enraged, bug-eyed stare' was not one of the options."

"Do try to follow instructions."

"Brggh brggh brggh."

"What was that?"

"Brggh brggh brggh."

"I still don't get it."

"Would someone take that gag out of his mouth? I can't tell if he's saying 'code' or 'new language'."

Helmsman Jack rose to the occasion, loosening and none to gently pulling the piece of cloth out of Captain Sparrow's mouth so that it hung loosely around his neck.

"Now, which is it, old boy?" he asked the captive pirate. "Code or new language?"

"Bugger bugger bugger," growled Jack, ignoring them as he started gnawing furiously at his shoulder, where one of the ropes binding his arms to his chest resided.

"How rude," said Crewman Jack.

"And after all we've done for you," sighed Crewman Jack.

"Bugger," mumbled Jack, giving up on chewing through the rope and settling for merely trying to loosen it.

"Maybe we should help him?"

"After how he's treated us?"

"Nah, let 'im rot."

"Bugger bugger," he grumbled, managing to pull the rope up around his neck, giving it more slack. His cursing cut off to gurgling as he tried to pull his arms apart too fast, pulling the loop tight around his neck.

"Ooh, that can't be good."

Jack gasped something that may or may not have been "bugger".

"Stop flopping about, you idiot! You're just making it worse."

Half a minute of asphyxiation and more-severe-than-normal hallucinations later, Jack manage to untangle the rope so that it was no longer choking him.

"Bugger," he muttered as he slowly wriggled out of the ropes, working the bindings methodically so as to avoid another run in with suffocation.

He writhed and twisted on the cold tile for the next ten minutes until finally, sore, rope-burned and covered in sweat, he managed to slither free of his bondage and lay unbound, his arms and legs spread joyously in exhausted victory.

"Hah! I did it!" he shouted, cackling madly. "You see that, you mutinous dogs? I did it, _without_ your help. Take that!" His laughter trailed off when he realized there was no response. "…men? …crew? …mutinous dogs?"

He jerked as the silence was suddenly broken by the twin doors of the entry way slamming open, and two figures striding in. They stopped at his head, looking down at him with amusement.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said the man with a grin. "Why, if it isn't _Sparrow_."

"Hello again," said the woman, her tone neutral.

Jack could only think of one response.

"Bugger."

* * *

"A forest of bamboo that anyone who enters it become immediately lost," murmured Daxtin as he pondered what Septerra had told them of the Thicket.

"Why that sounds delightful," said October. He shot a venomous glare at his sister. "Are you _trying_ to get them killed?"

"Oh, don't worry," she said calmly. "Most people who go in come out. Eventually."

"That's _real_ reassuring," said Jhen.

"I have confidence in you," she told them, the slightest hint of a smile playing about the corner of her mouth.

"Well, then I guess we should be going," said Daxtin. He looked about for their guide and captain, only to realize that he wasn't there. "Um… has anyone seen Jack?"

"Oh, _now_ you notice!" said the man in question as he stumbled into the room, throwing the door open unceremoniously.

"If it isn't the infamous Jack Sparrow," murmured Septerra lightly.

"That's _Captain_ Jack Sparrow," the pirate corrected her, before puffing up with ego. "So, I see my reputation precedes me."

"Yes," she agreed. "Of all the scoundrels, rouges, thieves and cutthroats I've ever heard of, you must be one of the most ridiculous."

"But," he pointed out, "you _have_ heard of me."

"Enough jabbering; just get your butt in there," came a rough voice as the captain received a hard kick to the small of his back, sending him tumbling forwards out of the doorway. The speaker followed, taking his place in the entry.

He was a tall, well-muscled man wearing an open black jacket over his bare chest along with loose white pants, a long white sash tied around his waist. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, but his large, toothy grin was well-evident. This, along with his short and spiky blonde hair gave him a definite "wild" look. He was carrying a large, almost cleaver-like sword; the thick four-foot long blade had curved edges and was at least a foot wide.

This was all in contrast to his companion, a woman wearing a closed jacket and pants of the same style and color, but with a long white scarf wrapped about her neck that obscured her lower face. She too wore sunglasses, and her pale blonde hair was swept back smooth and orderly. She appeared to be unarmed.

"Are they with you?" asked October dubiously.

"Definitely not," said Daxtin, shaking his head.

"Do you have to even ask?" groaned Jhen.

"Just who are you rats?" demanded Septerra imperiously.

"Fame," said the woman calmly.

"Wealth," said the man with a grin. "We've come to deliver a messa-"

"Dearest brother," interrupted Septerra sharply.

"Yes, O hated sister?" replied October, eyes remaining trained on the invaders.

"Escort them off the premise," she commanded.

"What if I want to keep them," he said, "for my _practice_."

"Fine," she said with a sigh, giving up and going back to her book. "Just get them out of my sight."

"Hey, I wasn't done talking!" yelled Wealth. "Lord Greed says-"

"Less talking, more dying," said October, appearing before him suddenly, scalpels in hand.

Wealth dodged back out of the way of his first slashing strike, but the doctor quickly readied his arm to fling the knives at him. However, before he could, there was a flash of white before his eyes and the scalpels were sent flying from his hands. He turned to see the source, finding Fame standing there, the extra length of her sash wrapped about one hand and held out from her body. Lashing out with her arm, the sash struck out like a striking snake, nearly getting October in the face.

"Oh, a cloth spear," he murmured. "I've read about these, but never seen one before in action. How interesting."

"Hey, don't forget about me!" yelled Wealth, swinging in with his enormous blade. However, his strike was blocked by twin blades in black and white.

"I'll be your opponent," said Daxtin as he protected October's back. Before Wealth could respond though, he was forced farther out into the hallway by a long, slash of darkness.

"As will I," said Anya, stepping up besides Daxtin. Jhen joined the formation.

"Well, you kids have fun," said Jack, giving them a wave. "I'm going to go harass the pretty lady," he concluded, indicating Fame, whose fight with October had moved even further down the hall towards the entry way.

"Kids," growled Wealth as he regarded the trio before him. "I'm fighting kids."

"Hey, who're you calling a kid," yelled Jhen, putting up his fists.

"I'll show you!" yelled Wealth, charging towards them. With surprising speed, he brought his blade around, the enormous sword slicing through the air and crashing into the floor, the teenagers barely managing to dodge.

"One hit from that," noted Anya, eyes wide.

"And it's all over," finished Daxtin.

"Just don't get hit then!" yelled Jhen with a grin. Laughing, he lunged in at the man, dodging under his first swing and coming around with his fingers curled in claws, bright red flames burning from them. He struck Wealth solidly in the shoulder, sending him spinning. However, just as he was gloating over this strike, the man brought his sword around suddenly, spinning with the hit to cut Jhen down.

"Look out!" yelled Anya. Jhen noticed the coming blow just in time, but only barely. He managed to step back out of the main path of the blade, instead taking a glancing blow to the shoulder. However, even though it was just a graze, the impact sent him flying off his feet and tumbling down the hallway.

"Jhen!" shouted Daxtin in concern.

"Now, who's next?" asked Wealth with a grin.

* * *

"What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?"

"Being a nuisance, mostly."

"No, no, no, you've got it all wrong, mate," said Jack patronizingly. "I'm _helping_ you."

"I see," said October, ducking another strike of Fame's cloth-spear. "Your special brand of help that involves being a constant nuisance and getting in my way."

"What are you talking about?" replied the pirate with a smile. "I'm not in your way at a-_argh!_" He stumbled and hit the ground, clutching the scalpel deeply embedded into his shoulder.

"See? That would have gone right to her if you weren't in the way," said October with a sadistic grin.

"I feel," interjected Fame distantly, "that you're not taking me seriously."

"Hmm?" said October pleasantly, neatly sidestepping another jab from her scarf. However, he was taken by surprise as she swung it around, the cloth wrapping around his raised throwing arm and head, binding the two awkwardly together.

Pulling with surprising strength, she brought him crashing forwards, slamming into the ground. Still bound and disoriented, the doctor could not react as she swung again, swinging him up into the wall with enough force to shake the many paintings hanging there. However, as she tried for a third swing, the end of her scarf was suddenly severed by the black-iron length of Jack's keyblade, freeing October from his occupation as the wrong end of a flail and sending him tumbling to the ground to free himself of his fetters.

"Now, say thank you like a nice little boy," said the pirate, grinning down at the man.

"I," said October, flinging a scalpel at his head. The instrument flew past and intercepted the end of Fame's sash, which had been just about to go through the captains head, "should be the one saying that."

"Right," said Jack, looking up at the cloth pinned to the ceiling before Fame jerked it free and back to her. "We'll call it a draw."

* * *

Wealth moved with the grace and power of a crashing wave, flowing around their attacks only to retaliate with crushing blows. Only Daxtin and Anya's own nimble agility kept them from ending up like the walls and floor, which sported many large, gaping holes where the man's giant blade had struck. However, this had left them mostly on the defensive, with little room to maneuver, much less even think about striking back. Rather quickly, he was forcing them down the hall and back towards the entryway where the others were fighting.

Nodding to Anya, Daxtin charged in recklessly at Wealth, taking him off guard. He managed to deflect the warrior's blade, only to receive a kick to the gut that sent him sprawling. However, this opening was enough for Anya to lunge in, lashing out with the Shadow Lance in a long, black arc that bit deep into him.

"Guh," coughed Wealth, skidding back a few paces. "So you wanna play rough, huh? Try some of this!"

Giving a swing of his sword, he brought it slamming down into the floor, unleashing a wave of power that filled the hall as it came rumbling towards the pair.

Daxtin and Anya were sent flying out of the hall, coming to a crashing halt at the head of the entryway stairs. Down below, Fame stood atop the shattered chandelier, using the high ground to her advantage against her opponents.

"Geez, I have no clue why Greed cares about you guys," said Wealth in disdain as he strode up to the downed pair. "I should just kill you now."

"You'll have to go through me first!"

Almost too fast to see, Jhen came flying down the hallway, coming up behind Wealth before the man even knew what was happening. Slamming both fists into the small of his back, the boy unleashed a torrent of power the rolled off the point of impact like slow thunder, before exploding decisively and sending Wealth flying over the railings. The man crashed into Fame, sending the two of them sprawling.

"You okay?" asked Jhen, running over to Daxtin and Anya.

"Yeah," said the boy.

"Thanks to you," nodded Anya.

"Now, let's finish this," said Jhen with a grin.

"Right," agreed Daxtin. Getting to his feet, he quickly leapt up onto the banister, white coat flaring out behind him momentarily. Below, Wealth and Fame were getting to their feet as Jack and October circled them cautiously. "Take this: Earthly Bond!"

Throwing his blade, Daxtin sent Joiner flying straight and true, striking the ground between the two invaders with a flash of light as an inscribed seal suddenly appeared on the floor, lighting the room form below with mystic light.

"I can't move!" growled Wealth, struggling to escape.

"Cut from the Heavens!" yelled Daxtin, raising the black aura blade above his head as he leapt down. He brought the blade slamming down between the pair, perfectly aligning with the grounded Joiner. There was a momentary pause, then the circle inscribed by the seal exploded with power, forming a pillar upwards of blinding light. With a final explosion, Daxtin leapt back as the pair were sent flying, slamming into the doors.

"I see," groaned Wealth, struggling to stay on his feet. "So this is what interested Greed. What defeated Maxwell."  
"You know Maxwell?" demanded Daxtin, blades trained on them.

"Yeah, I know the punk," said the swordsman. "Told me to tell you to watch your back. He'll get that keyblade of yours someday." He turned his attention to Jack then. "As for you, _Sparrow_, Greed sends his greetings."

"Tell him I don't want them," shot back the pirate.

"He also says he wants it back," he continued.

"Wants what back?" said Jack, feigning ignorance.

"Oh, I think you know," said Wealth. "Your guiding light."

"That tool," elaborated Fame.

"He's coming for it."

"Too bad," sneered the captain. "'s mine now."

"Are you done with your messages?" asked October tiredly. "If so, then kindly leave before I recruit you for my research."

"Fine," spat Wealth. He turned his shaded gaze back to Daxtin. "That was a good hit, kid. Be seeing you."  
With that, the two stumbled out the door, disappearing into a pair of dark portals the moment they were out of the mansion.

"We just keep making new enemies, don't we?" said Daxtin

"Seems that way," agreed Anya.

"And I wonder whose fault that is," mumbled Jhen, eying Jack and his keyblade.

"What?" said the pirate innocently.

"Never mind that," said Daxtin, putting a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Let's just get back to the Pearl."

* * *

"She said you were infamous," said Daxtin, walking up beside Jack where he stood overseeing his imaginary crew. "What did she mean?"

"Infamous: Having an extremely bad reputation; deserving of or causing an evil reputation; shamefully malign, detestable," recited the captain absently.

"I know what infamous means," he said with a groan. "But what are you so infamous for? I mean, you're known on different worlds! Isn't that not supposed to happen?"

"First of all, down here is not like up there," explained Jack, waving to indicate around them before pointing upwards. "Up there, all the worlds are separate and barriered and whatever nonsense. Down here, there's just the shadows between worlds which, while indeed perilous, do not, in fact, separate the worlds. So people are in fact aware of other worlds in most cases. Dawn City is basically a hub of other worlds."

"Okay," said Daxtin, nodding. "But why are _you_ so infamous?"

"I'm a five-hundred year-old pirate with a ghost ship what cannot be caught," he explained calmly. "What's not to be infamous about?"

"You're five hundred years old?" he said in surprise.

"Well, don't be so shocked," said Jack. "As Luciella explained, things in the Dark Realm don't exactly follow normal rules. A lot of people, like Larxene, persist just because they aren't ready to die yet. This is a realm of spirit and all that hullabaloo, so the body's not really a limiting factor. Heck, I think Auron's dead, but he doesn't let that stop him here." He paused then to reflect on it. "Wait, never mind, I think he did that upstairs too."

"So, what, you're like some restless ghost?" suggested Daxtin.

"Oh no, I don't need any silly Dark Realm magical heart whatever to get this far," he said with a laugh. "I'm immortal, you see?"

"So, you can't be killed?"

"Well, no, I can very much be killed," he said. "I just can't grow old and croak, or get sick unless it's something pretty damn serious."

"That's convenient," commented the boy. "How'd you do that?"

"A little aqua vitae."

Daxtin only gave him a blank stare.

"The Fountain of Youth, savvy?" explained the pirate.

"Oh," said the teenager. "Well, if you're immortal and all that and not from the Dark Realm… why come here instead of up there?"

"I got bored," he explained simply. "It's all light and order… the universe was shrinking. But down here, see, it's all open waters."

"I guess," said Daxtin. To him, the vast ocean of darkness seemed only intimidating, but he supposed someone like Jack actually preferred the unknown. As he gazed out over the railings at the shadows, something caught his eye. "Say, Captain…"

"Yes?" replied Jack.

"You said this ship can't be caught."

"The Black Pearl is the fasted ship to ever sail the seas," agreed Jack.

"Then why's that ship catching up to us?'

Jack whirled about quickly to see what he was pointing at. Sure enough, the speck in the distance was slowly growing larger, resolving itself into a triangular leviathan of cannons and engines, seemingly designed for space flight rather than ocean-going, though in the deep shadows of the black, it seemed to amount to the same thing. Behind the long, metal deck two wing-like sails sprouted from either side, giving it a vaguely fish-like appearance, though shark might have been a more appropriate term. As it drew closer, they could see it was clearly at least twice as big as the Black Pearl.

"They're cheating," replied Jack simply before turning back to the rest of the ship. "All hands on deck! All hands on deck!"

"What's going on? What's happening?" yelled Jhen as he came stumbling out of the below decks.

"We're being attacked!" shouted Daxtin from the upper deck.

"By who?" asked Anya as she ran up the stairs to join him.

"Greed," growled the captain, clutching the black box that hung from his belt.

"The guy Wealth and Fame work for?" said Jhen. "Let's blast them!"

"Best idea I've heard all day," agreed Jack, taking the helm. Giving the wheel a good spin, he barked, "All hands, prepare for battle!"

Ropes tightened and cannons moved into position, loaded and aimed by crewmen that only Jack could see. The tiller turned and so did the ship, the entire vessel coming about to face the oncoming threat.

"Are we going to fight them?" asked Daxtin.

"Of course," said Jack. "The surest way to stop pursuers."

"You sure they aren't friendly?" asked Anya.

"Quite," replied Jack. "There's only one ship like that in the realm. Fortune's Hoard. That's Greed's ship."

"What is your association with this Greed person?" asked Daxtin.

"The decidedly unfriendly kind," he said shortly.

"The only kind you have, am I right?" said Jhen snidely.

"Can we talk about this later?" yelled Daxtin. "Here they come!"

The enemy ship came bearing down on them like an oncoming wave, steady and inexorable. Within a few aching moments, they were within firing range.

"Why aren't we firing? What's going on?" asked Jhen.

"We're not even heading straight on," noted Anya.  
"Of course not," said Jack. "Ships this size can't turn quick enough for us to head straight at each other. It'd be suicide."

"So we go side to side and strafe them, huh?" said Daxtin

"That _is_ the plan," agreed the pirate. "We're coming alongside them now."

It was intimidating. Fortune's Hoard towered above them as they passed. Daxtin could see the individual cannons pointed at them as they went by.

"You may want to take cover," muttered Jack. Then, loudly, "_Fire!_"

Suddenly, the space was filled with cannon fire. Planks shattered under the impact of oncoming shots, sending pieces of wood and shrapnel flying. The teenagers dove for cover under the onslaught of flying debris while Jack continued to command his ghost crew and direct returning fire.

"This is insane!" yelled Jhen. "They completely outgun us!"

"They may have more guns," replied the captain. "But we have better maneuverability. We'll come around the back and-"

His planning was cut off suddenly as a new sound filled the air: the whir and thud of harpoon lines zipping across the intervening space only to bury themselves in the deck of the ship. Unexpectedly anchored to the larger ship, the crew of the Black Pearl found their ship caught in a sudden spin, the two vessels orbiting one another, unable to escape each other.

"What now?" shouted Anya worriedly. "We've lost that advantage!"

"Bugger blast damn hell," cursed Jack furiously. "Someone cut the lines already!"

"Already on it!" roared Daxtin, jumping the railings down to the main deck. Summoning his weapons, he took the black aura blade in both hands and lashed out at the cables. "Divider!"

A cutting arc of energy flew from his blade, severing the lines. Free of the hindrance, the Black Pearl made to get behind Fortune's Hoard, but the larger ship was already turning, moving quickly to keep the smaller ship in its sights.

"Oh no, you don't!" yelled Jhen, running over to one of the cannons. Hands ablaze, he slammed his palms onto the butt of the cannon, charging it with all his might. "Take this!"

The ship shook as the cannon suddenly discharged, a crimson wave exploding from the end and slamming into the enemy ship, hard enough to send it spinning off course. Taking advantage, Jack brought the Pearl around behind it, unloading another salvo of shots on its rear. Despite this though, Fortune's Hoard was quickly recovering, coming about to bring them in range for another strafing side-to-side battle.

"If we run alongside each other, they'll just harpoon us again!" yelled Daxtin.

"Kid, do you think can manage another one of those blasts?" yelled Jack from the helm.

"Jhen's all out!" shouted Anya from where she stood by the boy. Sure enough, the white-haired youth looked exhausted and was slumped over the cannon.

"What do we do now, Captain?" yelled Daxtin.

"I have something, but…" he trailed off.

"But what?" growled Jhen, barely audible over the creaking of the planks and the cannon fire.

"It's complicated!" yelled back the pirate.

"Whatever it is, you have to use it!" urged Daxtin.

"Guys, they're coming around," warned Anya nervously.

"Jack!" shouted Daxtin.

"Bugger bugger bugger," muttered the pirate.

"Here they come!" yelled the dark girl.

Another rain of cannon fire hailed down on the deck, causing the ship to list to one side worryingly. One of the blasts hit the main mast, a grazing blow that nonetheless caused the billowing sails to tilt crazily.

"They're aiming the harpoons…" said Anya urgently.

"Jack, do it now!" yelled Daxtin.

"Have it your way!" the pirate yelled back. Summoning his keyblade, he reversed the grip and brought it slamming down into the deck. "Portal of the Damned: The Kraken's Maw!"

A great, empty nothing opened up around them, and then it enclosed them, blocking out all sight of the oncoming harpoons, the ship, or anything else.

They had escaped.

* * *

"They got away," noted Maxwell. He stood at the front of the bridge, looking out at the floating debris that littered the surrounding space. "Can we pursue them?"

"Nah," replied the other man. "Even if we could, it'd be a waste of time."

"Is that so?" said the locksmith doubtfully.

"They'll show up again eventually," he assured him. "It's the way of the universe. For now, we've got other fish to fry."  
"Oh? Where are we going?"

"It doesn't have a real name," he explained, "but those who know it call it…"

* * *

"The Thicket?" said Jack.

"Yeah, that's where October's sister said we should go," said Daxtin. "Do you know where that is?"

"No," replied the pirate cheerily.

"Can you get us there?" asked Jhen more specifically.

"_That_, I can do," he replied.

"When can we get going?" said Daxtin.

"The ship looks kind of beat up," noted Anya.

"It'll probably take a full day for repairs," answered the captain. "At least enough to get us seaworthy again. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see to that."

Before the teenagers could get in another word, he turned from them, stepped into his quarters and slammed the door behind him.

"What was that about?" asked Jhen.

"He seemed… nervous," said Anya.

Inside, Jack wasn't nervous. He was several steps past nervous. Looking frantically about his cabin, his eyes scanned the many piles of charts and devices, the various lootings and rewards of his travels and travails. Walking unsteadily over to his desk, he began digging through the stacks at random, throwing things over his shoulders carelessly in his search. Finally, he came up with what he was looking for: the small glass vial full of clear liquid. Holding it up before his face, he eyed it warily before clutching it in one fist, completely enclosing the small item.

"Blue blue blue blue blue," he chanted, shaking his fist up and down. "Blue blue blue blue blue!"

Giving it one last shake, he opened his hand before him, palm up. The vial was a deep, crimson red.

"Bugger."

* * *

_Name: Jhen  
Age: 15  
Role: That Loudmouth Kid  
Summary: A white haired kid that Daxtin and Anya met in Dawn City, he seems to have a fascination with Keyblades and adventure. Spent the last couple of years trying to convince Gamble to take him to "the Order of the Key", to no success. Despite his seeming immaturity, he's quite strong, so Daxtin and Anya let him tag along on their quest, much to Jack's dismay._

_Jhen's design is one I've been using for a while in stories I formulate; he was originally (some odd years ago) based on Killua from hunter hunter. He's got a few tricks up his sleeve, but why don't I leave that a surprise for now?"_

* * *

_Giving Up: Okay, 1 chapter: 1 week isn't going to happen. I'll just try to get them up whenever. Anyway, next weekend is Fanime! I haven't gone in a couple years. I'll be cosplaying as Rossiu. It's really hot now, so writing with my laptop heating everything up gets pretty bad sometimes.  
Gallery's been updated to include Fame and Wealth.  
_

_Next Chapter: Skye in Wonderland, a dream or a nightmare?_


End file.
